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Present Edifice of the First Church of Christ. 
Built in 1855. 



17 5 8 19 8 

V 

First Church of Christ 

NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT 



COMPILED BY DEACON CHARLES ELLIOTT MITCHELL 



APRIL 25, 26 AND 27, 1908 






FEB 2 1912 



ADKINS PRINTING. CO. 
NEW BRITAIN, CONN. 






CONTENTS 

Page 

Historical Notes 5 

Introductory 7 

Order of Exercises 11 

Presentation Address by Hon. Charles Elliott Mitchell 17 

Address of Acceptance by Hon. George M. Landers. ... 24 

Historical Address by Prof. David N. Camp 25 

Historical Address by Rev. Henry W. Maier 35 

Historical Address by Mr. Edward H. Davison 49 

Address of Rev. G. Henry Sandwell 62 

Address of Rev. John H. Denison, D. D 67 

Address of Rev. William Burnet Wright, D. D 74 

Poem of Mr. Howard Arnold Walter 85 

Address of Prof. Bernadotte Perrin 90 

Address of Rev. John Hopkins Denison 93 

Address of Rev. Watson Woodruff 97 

Address of Rev. J. H. Bell, Ph. D 99 

Address of Rev. M. S. Anderson 103 

Address of Rev. T. Edwin Brown, D. D 105 

Address of Rev. Harry I. Bodley 109 

Appendix 113 

List of Original Members, April 19, 1758 115 

List of Pastors, with brief sketches of their lives, .... 116 

List of Deacons 121 

Article on the Map of the Ecclesiastical Society of New 

Britain, by James Shepard, M. A 122 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Present Edifice of the First Church of 
Christ, built in 1855, 

Second Edifice of the First Church of Christ 

built in 1822 Opposit 

Portrait of Rev. John Smalley, D. D. . . . 

The Boulder Monument, unveiled April 
25,1908 

Portrait of Hon. Charles Elliott Mitchell 

Portrait of Hon. George M. Landers 

Portrait of Professor David N. Camp. ' '. 

Portrait of Rev. Henry W. Maier 

Portrait of Mr. Edward H. Davison .... 

Portrait of Rev. G. Henry Sandwell .... 

Portrait of Rev. John H. Denison, D. D. 

PortraitofRev.WilliamBurnetWright,D.D. 
Portrait of James Shepard, M. A. ..[...'. 
Map of the Ecclesiastical Society of New 
Britain in 1758 



Frontispiece 


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Second Edifice of the First Church of Christ. 
Built in 1822. 



HISTORICAL NOTES 

The First Ecclesiastical Society in New Britain was 
formed in 1754. 

The first meeting-house was ready for occupancy in 
1756, but was not then entirely finished. 

The First Church was organized April 19, 1758 (one 
hundred and fifty years ago), and the Rev. John Smalley 
was ordained on the same day. 

The Rev. John Smalley, D.D. was active pastor of this 
church for fifty-two years and was pastor emeritus for ten 
years more, making his full service in this church sixty-two 
years. 

The second church edifice was erected in 1822 upon the 
site where the Burritt School now stands. 

The third edifice, the present house of worship, was dedi- 
cated August 23d, 1855. 

The first Sunday School in the State of Connecticut was 
organized in this church in 1816, and the Rev. Newton Skinner 
was chosen its president. 

The South Congregational Church of this city was organ- 
ized from this First Church in 1842. 



JfntrDburtnrg 



XN anticipation of the one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of its organization, the First Church of 
Christ of New Britain, on June 27th, 1907, appointed 
a committee to plan for suitable commemorative services 
and for carrying same into effect. 

The committee consisted of Deacon CHARLES E. MITCHELL, 
(chairman;) Rev. HENRY W. Maier, who had been recently 
installed as pastor of the church, having come from the Union 
Presbyterian Church of Schenectady, N. Y.; Charles J. 
Parker, chairman of the society's committee; and WILLIAM 
C. Hungerford, clerk of the church. 

The sub-committees subsequently appointed were as 
follows: 

Invitation Committee 

Deacon Frank L. Hungerford, Chairman 
Dea. Edward H. Davison, Miss Alice G. Stanley, 
Dea. Cornelius Andrews, Miss Jenny L. Haugh, 
Dea. Henry S. Walter, Miss Mary Pease, 
Mr. Charles J. Parker, Miss Ellen Tracy, 
Mr. Wm. C. Hungerford, Miss Mary Blake. 

Reception Committee 

Mr. Clarence F. Bennett, Chairman 

Mrs. C. F. Bennett, Mr. Willis H. DeWolf, 

Mr. a. Howard Abbe, Mrs. W. H. DeWolf, 

Mrs. a. H. Abbe, Mr. William P. Felt, 

Mr. George L. Damon, Mrs. W. P. Felt, 

Mrs. G. L. Damon, Mr. Morris C. Webster, 

Mr. Charles E. Parsons, Mrs. M. C. Webster, 

Mrs. C. E. Parsons, Mr. Stewart Parsons, 

Mr. Edward G. Bradley, Mrs. S. Parsons, 

Mrs. E. G. Bradley, Mr. James B. Thomson, 

Mr. E. Clayton Goodwin, Mrs. J. B. Thomson, 

Mrs. E. C. Goodwin, Mr. William E. Parker, 



8 

Mr. a. Tyson Hancock, Miss Alida S. Walter, 

Mrs. a. T. Hancock, Mr. Robert Parsons, 

Mr. Edwards D. Case, Mrs. Frank G. Vibberts, 

Mrs. E. D. Case, Miss Louise Platt, 

Mr. George L. Stearns, MissCorneliaChamberlain, 

Mr. James L. Flint, Miss Bertha Chamberlain, 

Mrs. James L. Flint, Miss Bertha Bancroft, 

Mr. Everett G. Hoffman, Mr. Howard L. Platt, 

Mrs. E. G. Hoffman, Miss Anna Strickland, 

Mr. William S. Bacon, Miss Addie T. Banister, 

Mrs. W. S. Bacon, Mr. Walter E. Ingham. 
Mr. Frank A. Porter, 

Historical Committee 

Mr. Charles E. Mitchell, Chairman 
Mr. Albert N. Lewis, Mr. Marcus White, 

Mr. Richard R. Porter, Mr. Herbert H. Pease, 
Mr. James Shepard, Mrs. V. B. Chamberlain. 

Historical Exhibit Committee 

Mrs. Frank L. Hungerford, Chairman 
Mrs. Charles J. Parker, Mrs. Mary H. Upson. 

Finance Committee 

Mr. Fred. G. Platt, Chairman 
Mr. L. Hoyt Pease, Mr. Fred. S. Chamberlain, 
Mr. Frank H. Alford, Mr. Frank G. Vibberts. 

Music Committee 

Mr. James S. North, Chairman 
Mr. William H. Gladden, Mrs. Rollin H. Judd, 
Mrs. Charles E. Mitchell, Mrs. James S. North, 
Mrs. Wm. C. Hungerford, Mrs. Mary M. Foster. 
Mrs. Frank H. Alford, 

Entertainment Committee 

Mrs. Fred. S. Chamberlain, Chairman 
Mrs. Orlando E. Swift, Mrs. Henry C. Hine, 
Miss Frances Whittlesey, Mrs. Theresa B. Stanley, 
Mrs. William Parker, Miss Mary Whittlesey, 

Mrs. Frank A. Porter, Mrs. Mary G. Curtis. 
Mrs. Herbert L. Mills, 



The former members of the church and absent members, 
whose addresses could be ascertained, were invited by letter 
to be present and participate in the celebration. 

Letters were also written to the following churches cor- 
dially inviting them to attend: 



Union Presbyterian Church, 
First Presbyterian Church, 
Presbyterian Church, 
Second Presbyterian Church, 
Congregational Church, 
First Church of Christ, 
Farmington Ave. Cong. Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
First Congregational Church, 
Center Congregational Church, 
Third Congregational Church, 
South Congregational Church, 
Swedish Bethany Cong. Church, 
Stanley Memorial Cong. Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 
Congregational Church, 



Schenectady, N. Y. 

Seneca Falls, N. Y. 

Oaks Corners, N. Y. 

Saratoga, N. Y. 

Mystic 

Hartford 

Hartford 

Bristol 

Farmington 

Plainville 

Berlin 

Kensington 

Meriden 

Meriden 

Middletown 

New Britain 

New Britain 

New Britain 

Newington 

Plantsville 

Rocky Hill 

Southington 

Wallingford 



Favorable responses were received and it is believed that 
all were represented on the anniversary occasion. 

As the anniversary would come on April 19th, 1908, that 
day was selected for the opening of the celebration. After- 
wards it was agreed that on April 18th, the preceding day, a 
boulder monument suitably inscribed should be dedicated 
with proper ceremonies, upon the spot — now Smalley Park — 
where the first church edifice was built by the forefathers. 
It was also decided that the celebration should extend over 
Monday the 20th. Later on, it being noted that April 19th 
would be Easter Sunday, the whole celebration was postponed 
one week, and actually took place April 25, 26, and 27. 



10 

The boulder, a relic of the glacial age, and weighing about 
eight tons, was found upon a meadow nearly a mile away. 
When placed in position the boulder was faced with a fine 
bronze tablet, (the work of P. & F. Corbin, and the gift of 
President Charles H. Parsons), bearing the following inscription: 



1758 1908 

On the Occasion 

OF THE 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE 

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST 

IN NEW BRITAIN WHICH WAS ORGANIZED APRIL 19. 1758. 

THIS Monument is erected to indicate the 
SPOT where stood the first MEETING HOUSE 

IN the parish of new BRITAIN, AND WHERE THE 

Rev. John Smalley D.D. preached for more 

THAN fifty years. 




Rev. John Smalley, D.D. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES 

Saturday Afternoon 

AT 4 o'clock 

Ceremonies on Smalley Park, Attending the Presentation of 
Boulder Monument to the City 

Rev. Henry W. Maier presiding 

DOXOLOGY 

Invocation Rev. G. Henry Sandwell 

HYMN "0 G'^d, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand." Leonard Bacon 
Presentation of Monument 

Hon. Charles Elliott Mitchell 
Unveiling of Monument 

by Descendants of Dr. John Smalley 
Acceptance of Monument 

Hon. George M, Landers, Mayor of New Britain 
Hymn " I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord," Timothy Dwight 

Address Prof. David N. Camp 

Hymn " My Country, 'Tis of Thee," S. F. Smith 

Benediction Rev. John H. Denison, D.D. 

Sunday Morning 
Communion Service 10.00 
Historical Service 10.45 
Organ Prelude "L?rgo," Handel 

DOXOLOGY 

Invocation Rev. Henry W. Maier 

ANTHEAI " Festival Te Deum in E Flat/' Dudley Buck 

Morning Lesson Rev. Alexander R. Merriam, D.D. 

HYMN 695 " O Where Are Kings and Empires Now ? " 
Offertory " Offertoire in A Flat," Edward Batiste 

Prayer Rev. William Burnet Wright, D.D. 



12 

Hymn 651 " How Firm a Foundation," 

Historical Address Rev. Henry W. Maier 

Prayer 

Hymn 320 " All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," 

Benediction Rev. Henry W. Maier 

Organ POSTLUDE " March for a Church Festival," Best 

Sunday Noon 

Sunday School Anniversary Service 

Hymn " Brightly Gleams Our Banner," 

Prayer 

Opening Remarks E. Clayton Goodwin, Superintendent 

HYMN " Little Drops of Water," 

Historical Address Mr. Edward H. Davison 

HYMN " I Think When I Read that Sweet Story of Old," 

Reminiscences by Ex-Superintendents and others 

Benediction 

SUNDAY Afternoon, 4.45 

Y. P. S. C. E. Anniversary, with Commemorative 
Addresses by Charter Members 

Sunday Evening 

AT 7 o'clock 

Organ prelude " Chorale," Kirnberger 

Processional " The Church's One Foundation," 
Hymn 126 " God, Our Help In Ages Past," 

Evening Lesson Rev. J. H. Denison, D.D. 

Prayer Rev. G. Henry Sandwell 

Offertory " The Lord is Mindful of His Own," 

Mendelssohn 
Miss Grace Baum 



13 

Address Rev. G. Henry Sandwell, London, England 

Solo " Out of the Depths," Rogers 

Mr. Frederick Hahn 

Address Rev. John H. Denison, D. D., Williamstown, Mass. 

Hymn 698 " A Mighty Fortress is Our God," 

Address 

Rev. William Burnet Wright, D. D., Buffalo, N. Y. 

Recessional " For All Thy Saints who from Their Labors 

Rest," 
Benediction Rev. William Burnet Wright, D.D. 

POSTLUDE "Priests' March," Mendelssohn 



MONDAY Afternoon 

AT 1 o'clock 

Historical Exhibit in Ladies' Parlor 
Organ Recital 

4.30 TO 5.30 
Howard E. Brewer, Organist 

Program 
Scherzo Edmond Lemaigre 

Offertory in D Flat Theodore Salome 

Romance in D Flat Edwin H. Lemare 

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Johann Sebastian Bach 

Evening Star Song (Tannhauser) ) r> • l j ixr 

n 1 J i. T L • r Richard Wagner 

Prelude to Lohengrm ) ^ 

Chanson Ballade P. S. Bachmann 

Coronation March Johan Svendsen 



14 
Monday Afternoon, April 27th 

Reception in Chapel 

5.30 TO 6.30 

To former pastors, their families and other invited guests 
Refreshments in Chapel 

6.30 TO 7.30 

Congratulatory and Commemorative Addresses 

8 P. M. 

Mr. Howard Arnold Walter First Church of Christ 

Prof. Bernadotte Perrin Yale University 

Rev. Watson Woodruff South Church 

Rev. John Hopkins Denison The Central Church, Boston 

Rev. J. H. Bell, Ph. D. Methodist Church 
Rev. M. S. Anderson The People's Church of Christ 

Rev. T. E. Brown, D.D. Baptist Church 

Rev. Harry I. Bodley St. Mark's Episcopal Church 

MUSIC OF THE Olden Time 




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Saturday Afternoon 



The unveiling of the Boulder Monument at Smalley Park, 
which signalized the opening of the exercises at the one 
hundred and fiftieth anniversary will be long remembered by 
those present at this impressive ceremony. 

A large gathering attended the exercises which were 
presided over by the Rev. Henry W. Maier, pastor of the 
church. 

An interesting feature of the occasion was the unveiling 
of the monument by descendants of the Rev. John Smalley, 
first pastor of the church. These descendants were Miss 
Florence W. Porter, daughter of Richard R. Porter, and Miss 
Irene R. Porter, daughter of Frank A. Porter. They represented 
the fourth generation from Dr. Smalley; and their grandfather 
Frederick W. Porter, a great-grandson of Dr. Smalley, is the 
oldest living descendant of the first minister. The unveiling 
was accomplished by raising, at the proper time, a large Ameri- 
can flag, which until that moment had overspread the boulder. 
Appropriate hymns were sung at convenient intervals. 

Among those present on this occasion were three of the 
former ministers of the church — the only ones living — Rev. 
J. H. Denison, D.D., of Williamstown, Mass., Rev. William 
Burnet Wright, D.D., of Buffalo, N. Y., and Rev. G. Henry 
Sandwell of London, England. 



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PRESENTATION ADDRESS 

BY HON. CHARLES ELLIOTT MITCHELL 

We are assembled this April afternoon to take part in a 
significant ceremony. We are to unveil a boulder monument 
erected by the First Church of Christ of this city to commem- 
orate an event which took place one hundred and fifty years 
ago. That event was the erection here of the first meeting- 
house for public worship in the parish of New Britain. It is 
possible and indeed probable that the edifice stood a little 
northwesterly from this precise spot; if so, it is obviously 
impracticable to place a boulder there. By the permission of 
the city, however, we place our boulder upon this elevated 
spot in Smalley Park where it indicates with sufficient accuracy 
the location of the first meeting-house of the church which 
plants the boulder, and the first place of public worship within 
the limits of what is now the city of New Britain. 

Before I say a few words about the meaning of this occasion, 
let us think for a moment of the time and place of the event 
we commemorate. 

Go back with me one hundred and fifty years. Take 
your stand in imagination on this highest spot in Smalley Park. 
It is the year 1758, nearly twenty years before the American 
Revolution. The city of New Britain has disappeared. There 
is no city, no borough, no town of New Britain. We are in 
the southern portion of the greater Farmington of the Colonial 
period. All about us are farms and forests. The society or 
parish of New Britain has just been created by the General 
Assembly. Within its limits are something like forty scattered 
houses, a blacksmith's shop or two, a tavern or two, a tannery, 
and here and there a primitive sawmill or a grist mill. This, if I 
am right, completes the picture, excepting that commodious 
bams give a look of moderate prosperity to the scene before us. 
Off to the north is a cluster of houses called Stanley Quarter; 
off to the south-west is Hart Quarter; over toward the east, 
perhaps half a mile away, is East Street, doubtless entitled 



18 

to be called the center of the scattered hamlet, because there 
is the school house where the children gather and there perhaps 
is a little store. Over in the opposite direction from East 
Street, over where Main Street is one day to be a crowded 
thoroughfare are three or four isolated houses. At the time 
of which I am speaking, some of the scattered inhabitants of 
this new ecclesiastical society of New Britain have been attend- 
ing church in Farmington, some in Newington, and some in 
Kensington. 

Where we are standing is an opening among the oaks 
which the colonels and captains and ensigns of the period call 
"the parade." Here is where the train-band meets to practice 
the military art, and where the soldiers part from their loved 
ones, when to the music of fife and drum they march away to 
the Colonial wars. For we must remember that the 1758 of 
which we are speaking is a military age. Four or five years 
ago, in the wilds of Pennsylvania, Braddock met his tragic 
fate and Washington won his earliest laurels, and two or three 
years hence, General Wolf is to capture Quebec and add an 
empire to the British crown. Before long the Revolutionary 
war is to break out, and the battle of Lexington will be fought 
seventeen years to a day after the gathering of the church, 
which worshiped on the spot where we are standing. 

Connecticut is still an English colony and Connecticut 
parsons loyally pray for their king beyond the ocean. But 
Connecticut is doing its own governing. From the first Con- 
necticut has made its own laws and enforced them by its own 
governor, elected by its own freemen. The right of self 
government, which the Royal Charter recognizes, the stalwart 
sons of Connecticut assert as their own prerogative by the 
grace of God. 

The year 1758 was just before the beginning of what is 
sometimes called the factory age. It was the time when 
Arkwright and Hargreaves and Watt were busy in the mother 
country with those remarkable inventions which harnessed 
machinery to the forces of steam and brought into existence 
the factory system which now fills the industrial world, and 
means so much to our New Britain. Nearly all articles of 
personal and household use were home-made and hand-made. 
It was the age of fire-places and foot-stoves, of swinging cranes 
and suspended kettles, of spinning wheels and tallow dips, 
and, where luxury prevailed, of pewter dishes. In this section 



19 

there were no post offices and no stage coaches and even the 
post-boy had not yet made his advent. Books were few, and 
such humble hbraries as existed consisted of the Bible and a 
few religious books. The sermon furnished the intellectual 
stimulus for a whole week of healthy meditation. 

We must not make the mistake, however, of associating 
the event which we commemorate with the early pioneer 
period of our local history. The year 1758 was a century and 
a quarter after the settlement of Hartford and more than a 
hundred years after the organization of the church in Farming- 
ton. In 1686 Major Seymour, the Miles Standish of the 
pioneer life of this section, came over the mountain from 
Farmington and down on Christian Lane erected a palisade 
for protection against the Indians. A church was formed 
in 1712 composed of settlers, principally from Farmington, 
who bravely met the exigencies of life in what they called "this 
comer of the wilderness." This church of the pioneers was 
divided to form the churches now worshiping in Kensington 
and on Berlin Street. The Rev. William Bumham spent a 
lifetime in the service of this pioneer church, which had ceased to 
maintain worship at Christian Lane at the time when, the 
parish of New Britain having been formed, the first meeting- 
house within its limits was located here. We are to remember 
therefore that not only had the wild trees of the original forests 
been leveled to make room for fertile farms, but that the 
domestic trees, the apple trees, and the cherry trees, had grown 
to full maturity, and had given to this whole region something 
of the aspect of a settled country, even as early as 1758. 

It was in this middle period between the period of pioneer 
life and the period in which we live that a theological stripling, 
named John Smalley, a graduate of Yale and a student of Dr. 
Bellamy, who had been providentially directed to the place 
where he was to enter upon his great career, made this memo- 
rable entry upon the record of the first church planted in New 
Britain: "April 19th, 1758, a church was gathered in the 
parish of New Britain, John Smalley being ordained pastor in 
and over same." It does not fall to my lot to dwell upon the 
events that preceded the date of this significant entry. It is 
enough for me to .say that when young Smalley's memorandum 
was penned in 1758, the meeting-house, although not wholly 
finished, was ready for the new church organization. In this 
locality it stood — perhaps a few rods north-westerly from the 



20 

precise spot where we have been obHged to place our boulder 
monument. In this locality it stood at last, representing the 
toils, the sacrifices, and the prayers of as remarkable a commun- 
ity of men and women, I venture to say, as ever faced the 
problems of a frontier settlement and builded for God and man. 
They called their new edifice a meeting-house, after the man- 
ner of their Puritan ancestors . As an edifice it was unpretentious, 
certainly, but to build it they imposed upon themselves 
heavy taxes, and practiced self-denials such as we can per- 
haps imagine but which they never complained of as they 
sturdily and steadily pushed forward what to them was a 
tremendous task. 

How much we owe Deacon Andrews for his graphic des- 
cription of this first meeting-house. As we read it, remembering 
that it is the description of one who saw it, the building takes 
shape and stands before us. The long ridge pole extends 
eighty feet from north to south; the steep roof inclines to the 
front and to the rear. The double door forming the principal 
entrance opens to the east toward the approach from Smalley 
Street. There is a single door on the north and another on the 
south. In the interior is the elevated pulpit clinging to the western 
wall with the sounding board above it to deflect the words of 
the sermon down upon the pews. Two stairways lead up to 
the lofty pulpit, one on either side. Even the wooden buttons 
fastening the pulpit doors are not overlooked, nor is that 
ornamental design, for such it was intended to be, upon the 
pulpit front. Below are big box pews on either side of the 
passage extending from the front entrance to the pulpit only 
interrupted by the board which swinging up and down on 
hinges serves for a communion table. We have here no fancy 
sketch, for Deacon Andrews united with the church in 1818, 
which was three years before the first church was dismantled 
in 1821 to furnish some of the timber from which the second 
church was erected where the Burritt school now stands. It 
was an unpretentious structure as I have said, but how its 
builders loved it, and how they honored it, and how they gath- 
ered within its walls every Sunday in the year to hear the 
almost infallible Dr. Smalley discourse on their civil and relig- 
ious duties and expound the law divine. It mattered little 
that the meeting-house had no bell or belfry; no summons was 
needed excepting that passion for worshiping God — always in 
their own way to be sure — which had made their fathers brave 



21 

the hostile seas and even greater perils on hostile shores. It 
mattered not how slowly the sand moved in the hour glass 
which stood beside the Bible on the pulpit; it mattered not 
how they shivered in the frigid atmosphere of the unheated 
house in the dead of winter. Here in the cold the hearers of 
Dr. Smalley sat, contentedly and even joyfully imbibing his 
wisdom and profiting by his precepts, while at the same time 
sitting in judgment upon his sermons after the manner of those 
who have been trained to give a reason for the faith that 
is in them. 

But I must hasten on; the question ine\itably arises — 
why celebrate such an event as the building of a meeting- 
house? Why should we erect a monument here to keep in 
the memory of future generations the facts connected with the 
origin of the First Church of Christ in New Britain, and its 
daughter the South Congregational Church? Is it not true 
that, by the consent of mankind, only conspicuous events call 
for monuments? Undoubtedly in order to justify a monument 
it must appear that there are reasons for this celebration 
which do not lie upon the surface of the transaction which we 
joyfully celebrate. 

In the first place this meeting-house furnished the pulpit 
from which Dr. Smalley preached for more than fifty years, 
and Dr. Smalley's ministry gives to the little church where he 
officiated a mighty title to veneration and remembrance. Dr. 
Smalley was one of the pulpit giants of the times in which he 
lived. His sermons exercised a formative force throughout 
New England — a formative force which was great while he 
was living and greater still after his death. In more ways 
than we can possibly indicate his influence will be felt in the 
city of New Britain long after the events of his life are, par- 
tially at least, forgotten. Dr. Smalley stood for the approach 
to religion on its intellectual as well as its spiritual side. The 
men whom he trained to ripeness in religious culture inevitably 
became men of thought and action. It is true that the human 
material he wTought upon was remarkable in its character. 
The men who settled in Hartford, and from Hartford settled 
Farmington, and from Farmington settled in this vicinity and 
enjoyed the ministrations of Dr. Smalley, possessed in remark- 
able degree the power to create opportunities, and the power 
to give shape and direction to the forces that influence mankind. 
It was these men who, stimulated and steadied by Dr. Smalley's 



22 

stalwart preaching, laid the foundations of New Britain. They 
were a chosen people, those men who came from Stanley Quar- 
ter on the north, and from Hart Quarter on the south-west, 
and from Newington on the east, and from Kensington on the 
south, and united to worship in the first New Britain church. They 
were descendants of men who could not be cowed by kings or 
silenced by prelates; to God only would they bow the knee. 
It was Stoughton who, speaking of the process by which Eng- 
land had contributed to the settlement of the colonies declared — 
"God sifted a whole nation that He might send chosen grains 
into the wilderness." The energy which was innate in the 
blood of this "sifted" people was wonderfully enhanced by the 
difficulties which they were compelled to conquer, and that 
New Britain — a city without a single natural advantage and 
rich only in drawbacks to prosperity— has taken a leading 
position in the industrial world is due, more than to any other 
cause, to the fact that there lived a race of men within its 
borders who were descended from Puritan ancestors and who 
demonstrated that they were worthy sons of worthy sires by 
building the meeting-house that fronted upon this "parade" 
and by worshiping their father's God within its walls. 

I do not under-rate the other influences which have con- 
tributed to the growth and achievements of our honored city. 
A city is like a river whose abundant flow is due to the con- 
tributions of a thousand tributaries descending from a thousand 
hillsides, and New Britain is no exception to the rule, but 
when I think of the contributions of Dr. Smalley, and 
of the Norths, and the Stanleys, and the Harts, and the Lees, 
and the Judds, and the Smiths, and the other families that 
might be mentioned, who gathered here from Sunday to 
Sunday during the formative period of our city's history, and 
who worshiped later on in the successive churches of the same 
faith and polity, I cannot doubt that the greatest single 
influence for good in the life of our city has been that for which 
the first meeting-house stood for one hundred and fifty years. 
It is certainly remarkable that the men who are now the 
presidents of several of our large industrial concerns, and 
the vice-presidents of others, are descendants of the men 
and women who habitually heard Dr. Smalley preach, 
while the names of many of our large corporations truthfully 
testify to the same origin. Indeed it is probably safe to say 
that every large industrial company which has become per- 



23 

manently established in New Britain has had the benefit, in 
a greater or less degree, of the originative and managing 
capacity of the men, and the sons of the men, who worshiped 
where we are standing. 

Therefore, Mr. Mayor, I feel that I am doing a most 
appropriate thing, when, in the presence of this great concourse 
of men and women, on this April afternoon, speaking in the name 
of the First Church of Christ, I commit the care and custody 
of this memorial monument to the city fathers for all coming 
time. Here on Smalley Park, one day to become an ornament 
to the city, may this boulder monument tell to successive gen- 
erations the story of the noble men and women who founded 
our loved New Britain. 



ADDRESS OF ACCEPTANCE 

BY HON. GEORGE M. LANDERS, MAYOR 

There can be no more certain evidence of the spirit of 
pride in the growth of our city, and of its institutions, than that 
which seeks to mark with permanent memorials, the historical 
stepping stones of the progress, successively, of the hamlet, 
village, town and city of New Britain. 

In offering the First Ecclesiastical Society the thanks 
of the city, and taking over your memorial, with its beautiful 
tablet, I wish to express the hope that your example may be 
followed by other societies and individuals, so that the old 
landmarks of interest in early New Britain may be definitely 
recorded for the generations which are to follow us. 

I speak to-day for the new New Britain, our cosmopoli- 
tan city. What would the Rev. Newton Skinner say if he 
knew that near the very spot where stood his church, there is 
to-day a school in which the children of over thirty nationalities 
are paving the way to become good citizens of our common- 
wealth? So the fabric of our society changes, and as a descend- 
ant of one of the original families in your society, I am gratified 
that it should fall to me to do my share in helping to amal- 
gamate the various elements in our community into a harmoni- 
ous body of people, who shall love the flag which floats above 
us no less than we ourselves do, and I say to you respectfully, 
as one of the younger generation should, that the spirit which 
has steadily moved forward the flag of the city of New Britain 
commercially and socially, is growing stronger every day, 
throughout our city, and that we shall shoulder with all the 
strength and devotion we can summon, any duties that may 
come to us to perform. 

I congratulate the First Ecclesiastical Society upon attain- 
ing its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and upon the 
attendance here of its former pastors, to whom this occasion 
means so much. 




Hon. Gkokck M. Landkrs. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

BY PROFESSOR DAVID N. CAMP 

Meeting here on historic ground, made memorable by 
the self-denial and heroism of men whose thought and action 
rendered it historic, we naturally inquire, what were the 
causes, and who were the men, that gave to this place special 
significance. The ruling impulse which led to the planting 
of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies was not pecuniary 
gain, or enlargement of dominion. 

It was rather to seek opportunity for freedom to worship 
Grod, and to exercise liberty of conscience. 

Yet in the location of the early settlements consideration 
was given to the natural advantages. 

The early settlements were on navigable waters, either 
of the river, or sound. 

The first exception to that policy was the settlement of 
Farmington in 1640. 

It may seem singular if not surprising, that in less 
than five years after the first settlements had been made in 
Connecticut, venturesome spirits had blazed their way through 
the woods and over the mountain, ten miles distant, to form 
a new settlement. 

The group of men who became personally interested in 
this new venture, included a number of persons distinguished 
for intelligence, character and official position. 

Among them were the Governors, Haynes, Hopkins, 
Welles and Webster, all the governors of the colony for the 
first sixteen years except Wyllys; and his son, the son-in-law 
of Governor Haynes, was one of the number; also the two 
colonial secretaries and two of the treasurers; Stephen Hart, 
the deacon of Mr. Hooker's church in Cambridge, and then 
in Hartford, and others distinguished for their intelligence 
and public spirit. 

The pastors of the Farmington church were first, the 
son-in-law and then the son of Thomas Hooker, who for nearly 



26 

fifty years, were the religious teachers of this new town. They 
must have brought much of the spirit and purpose of Thomas 
Hooker, to be infused into the thought and character of this 
society and church. 

The Farmington church had thus in its membership a 
large proportion of men of sterling character, who not only 
left their impress upon that age, but so lived that it was 
transmitted to generations following. 

The influence of these men, bound together by a common 
faith, and threatened by common dangers, both from wild 
beasts and savage Indians, was pre-eminently manifested in 
the enterprise of their descendants. 

The lines were extended, on the north to Avon, on the 
west to Bristol, and on the south to Southington, and Great 
Swamp, or Kensington, and in each of these places a church 
was established before either church or society existed in New 
Britain. 

Yet the growth of Farmington was at first slow. Fifteen 
years after its settlement it had but forty-six ratable persons, 
while Hartford at the same time had one hundred and seventy- 
seven, or nearly four times as many. 

The impulse imparted by the enterprise of its first set- 
tlers was felt later, and in 1756, the year that the meeting-house 
on this site was first occupied, and the first census of the colony 
was taken, the population of Farmington exceeded that of 
Hartford by nearly seven hundred, and twenty years later it 
had become the largest town in the Connecticut colony, and 
one of the most important. 

The enterprise which had led to the settlement of the 
places to the north and west, could not overlook the opportun- 
ity presented on the south-eastern border of Farmington, at 
Great Swamp. A large tract of land, at that place, by grants 
to officers of the general court and others, had come into the 
hands of Andrew Belcher, a wealthy Boston merchant, who 
offered favorable terms of settlement. Wethersfield had 
already secured a settlement at Beckley Quarter and on the 
eastern borders of Farmington. Middletown was coming 
near on the south-east, and it was rumored that Meriden, then 
a part of Wallingford, was also considering a settlement near. 

The town of Farmington, ever watchful of its interests, 
voted a bounty to Richard Seymour, who with others, began 
a settlement at Christian Lane, near the present southern 
boundary of New Britain, in 1687. 



27 

Special inducements made by Belcher and the tov\-n of 
Farmington, and liberal grants by the general court, led to 
the rapid settlement of this hamlet, so that in less than twenty 
years after the first house was built, the general court had 
granted permission for a new and separate ministerial society. 

The society was organized, and a meeting-house built 
and a church formed, a few years later. This was the first 
church formed from the church at Farmington, and the place 
had apparently rapid growth for that age. 

The inhabitants of Farmington had extended their 
settlement over the mountain, in one direction to Stanley 
Quarter, and in another along the east side of Farmington 
mountain, as far south as Hart Quarter. 

In the meantime, the enterprising people of Great 
Swamp had enlarged their settlement northerly on East Street, 
as far as its present intersection of Sm.alley Street, and a few 
families from Wethersfield had settled further north on, or 
near, this street. 

There were thus three hamlets, or clusters of farm houses, 
within the present limits of New Britain, Stanley Quarter, 
East Street and Hart Quarter. 

Some of the residents of these hamlets still belonged to 
the churches at Farmington and Newington, or West Wethers- 
field. But the greater part were connected with the church 
and society at Great Swamp, or Kensington. 

The society at Great Swamp was organized in 1705, 
the church in 1712, when a minister. Rev. Wm. Burnham, was 
installed, and the m.eeting-house at Christian Lane was so 
far completed as to be occupied the same year. The pulpit 
was not built until two years later, and it was eight years 
before the galleries were built and the meeting-house com- 
pleted. 

The growth of the parish in a few years demanded a 
larger house, and, after much strife and perplexity, one was 
erected by the order of the General Assembly, located at a 
much greater distance from the residents in this part of the 
parish than the first meeting-house. 

In 1730, twenty-six persons petitioned the General 
Assembly for permission "to meet at some convenient place, 
for four months, to attend the public worship of God." 

The petition was not granted, and the people on East 
Street and vicinity still continued their relations with the 
Kensington church. 



28 

The situation was neither pleasant nor peaceful; dissen- 
sions occurred both in church and society, but the residents 
of the north part of the society paid their dues regularly and 
discharged their other obligations promptly until the General 
Assembly, in 1754, created a new Ecclesiastical society, to 
be known by the name of New Britain. The act provided that 
this new society should have all the powers and privileges 
that other Ecclesiastical societies had in the colony. Before 
the incorporation of this new society, there appears to have 
been no significant name for the entire territory included by 
this act. 

The three hamlets, Stanley Quarter, Hart Quarter and 
East Street, had their significant names and local associations. 

There were in each hamlet a tavern, a blacksmith's shop; 
in two of them mills, and in one a store, at first occupying a 
small room in a dwelling-house. 

The entire population of New Britain at that time was 
less than three hundred. 

Let us notice a few of the prominent men then living 
in the place. 

Deacon Anthony Judd and Stephen Lee, two of the most 
prominent members of the Kensington church, and among 
the leaders in efforts to secure the new society, both died before 
the society was incorporated, but their descendants were 
active in its organization. 

Benjamin Judd at the age of eighty-three, the patriarch 
of the parish, was living on East Street, at the north end of 
the Great Swamp society. His son, James Judd, aged thirty- 
seven, was living with his father, and running Judd's mills. 
Uriah, an older brother of James, aged forty-one, was living 
at the corner of East Main and Stanley Streets, while a younger 
brother, Nathan, aged thirty-five, had his home at the corner 
of East Main and East Streets. 

■ :'0n East Street, at some distance north of Benjamin 
Judd's, Major John Paterson, the first deacon of the First 
Church, had his home, near the present railway crossing at 
East Street. He was forty-six years old, a military man, but 
an extensive farmer, and active in the organization of the new 
society. He was from the West Wethersfield, or Newington 
church. 

The widow of Capt. Stephen Lee was living at the Lee 
homestead at the corner of Smalley and East Streets. Her 
youngest son, Josiah Lee, was living in the same house. 



29 

An older son, Dr. Isaac Lee, was then living in Middle- 
town, but afterwards removed to New Britain. 

Further south on East Street, Ladwick Hotchkiss, aged 
thirty-one, a blacksmith, had his shop and house. Near him 
were Joseph Smith, senior, seventy-two years old, and Joseph 
Smith, junior, who kept a tavern. 

This part of East Street, from Major Paterson's home 
to the Smiths', was, at that time, the most important center 
of social influence in the society. Here were the principal 
tavern, the first store within the limits of the society and the 
residence of the minister when settled. 

The first religious services and most of the early society 
meetings and social gatherings were on this street. There 
were a few persons living further south on East Street, and 
there were two or three houses, Deacon Judd's and Daniel 
Dewey's at the south end of Stanley Street. 

Three of the more prominent persons of Stanley Quarter, 
Thomas Stanley, Daniel Hart and John Clark, with their 
farms, were not included when the society was incorporated, 
but their descendants became members a few years later. 

Noah Stanley, at the age of thirty, and Timothy, three 
years younger, were then living in Stanley Quarter, the former 
keeping a tavern. Both became m.embers of the new society. 

Judah Hart and Elijah Hart, in the prime of life, and 
each with large families, were the leading representatives of 
Hart Quarter, and Moses Andrews was living on West Main 
Street, a mile west of the post office. 

At the time the people of East Street were first petition- 
ing for permission to have religious services on that street, 
there was no one living at, or near, the present business center 
of New Britain. 

The surface of this part of the place was broken and very 
uneven. Ledges of trap rock and swamps and forests covered 
a large portion of the territory, and it was evidently considered 
unattractive for residences, or cultivation. 

The nearest house to the present site of the First Church 
was probably Uriah Judd's, at the corner of East Main and 
Stanley Streets. 

About 1746, nearly sixty years after the first settlement 
of Great Swamp and East Street, Nathan Booth, then about 
twenty-five years old, came from the Great Swamp parish, 
made a clearing and built his house where the South Church 



30 

now stands. Soon after, Joshua Mather, the brother-in-law 
of Booth, came from Windsor, and made his home near the 
present intersection of Main, Elm and Park Streets. 

About the same time, John Judd, a son of Deacon 
Anthony Judd of South Stanley Street, located on West Main 
Street, near the corner of Washington Street. He was three 
years older than Nathan Booth, and had married Mary Bum- 
ham, daughter of the first minister at Great Swamp. 

At this time Capt. Stephen Lee, leader of the company 
that was petitioning for the privilege of a separate place of 
worship, and finally of a separate society, was living at his 
home on East Street. He had a large farm extending from 
East Street to Main Street. A considerable portion of this farm 
came into possession of his eldest son, Dr. Isaac Lee, and on the 
western end of the Lee farm, a house was erected for Colonel 
Isaac Lee, the son of Dr. Isaac. 

At the time the Ecclesiastical Society of New Britain 
was incorporated these four families, viz: those of Booth, 
Mather, Judd and Lee, were the only residents of what is 
now the business center of New Britain. They were all 
farmers, though two of them afterwards had blacksmith's 
shops. 

While the first efforts for a separate organization were 
confined almost exclusively to East Street, the residents of 
the center, and a portion of those in Hart Quarter and Stanley 
Quarter, united with those of East Street in the later efforts, 
and when the society was incorporated, all these settlements 
were included in the act. 

Thus at the May session of the General Asssembly of 
the Colony of Connecticut in 1754, the New Britain Ecclesi- 
astical Society was incorporated. 

There was then no place of public resort except the 
taverns and blacksmith's shops. There was no post office, 
letters being received at Hartford, or Farmington, and the 
only school building was a small brown house at the south 
end of East Street, in what had been the north squaddam 
or school district of Great Swamp. 

The society is incorporated and proceeds to do business. 

At its first meeting on June 13, 1754, it appointed the 
requisite officers and voted that it was necessary for the inhabi- 
tants of this society to build a meeting-house for religious 
worship. 



31 

Josiah Kilboum and Elijah Hart were appointed a com- 
mittee to apply to the county court to fix a site. We see the 
wisdom and sagacity of the society in these votes. 

The Great Swamp, or Kensington society, had for years 
been disturbed by the unseemly strife about the location of 
the meeting-house. The New Britain society would avoid 
strife and apparently without mentioning, or suggesting a site, 
referred the whole matter to the county court. And then 
appointed as a committee, to secure a site, two men far removed 
from the probable location, one from Hart Quarter and one 
from Stanley Quarter. 

The court sent out a surveyor who determined the center 
of the society and the committee of the court drove the stakes 
for the location of the meeting-house on the Lee farm near 
the parade ground. 

At that time, there were no convenient roads for reach- 
ing the site and the society petitioned the county court and 
the town of Farmington to lay out suitable highways. 

Benjamin Judd deeded one piece, Dr. Isaac Lee three 
pieces, and Josiah Lee one piece. In due time roads were 
built, providing access to the meeting-house. The vote of 
the society to build a meeting-house was passed at a society 
meeting held December 16, 1754. This was an adjourned 
meeting, held first at the house of William Paterson on East 
Street, and then adjourned to the house of Uriah Judd, that 
the members of the society might view the site. 

After going to the location and examining the site, and 
the meeting had been re-opened at the house of Uriah Judd, 
it was voted to build a meeting-house for religious worship at 
the place "where the county court have affixed the stakes in 
this society." 

It was this act of the new society and its resultant conse- 
quences which you celebrate to-day. The site for the meeting- 
house was near a rocky ridge in a piece of woods away from 
any public road, but in the center of the society, as determined 
by the surveyor and the committee of the county court. 

The members of the society had recently been heavily 
taxed to pay for the Kensington meeting-house, but with 
exemplary courage they proceeded at once to the erection of 
the meeting-house on this site. 

The house was raised in October, 1755. The floor was 
laid in the spring of 1756. Temporary benches were provided 



32 

and services held in the new meeting-house during the summer 
of 1756. The first society meeting was held in the meeting- 
house May 11, 1756, soon after the floor was laid. The 
church was organized April 19, 1758, and John Smalley was 
ordained pastor at the same time. 

In 1759, one committee was appointed "to procure boards 
and other stuff for the meeting-house," and another committee 
"to underpin" it. 

In 1762, a committee "was appointed to finish the lower 
part of the meeting-house and pulpit and ye galery floors and 
ye front around ye galery the coming summer." 

The work went forward slowly. It was difficult to 
raise the necessary funds; notes were given and were paid with 
difl5culty when due. 

In 1763, at a meeting in which provision was made for 
paying interest on the notes, a vote was passed to pay certain 
persons "for their charge of serving and being served." 

In 1764, ten years from the organization of the society 
and only eight from the occupation of the house, the prudential 
committee were directed to repair the meeting-house and in 
1767 springs were ordered for the windows. 

In 1769, the society appointed a special committee "to 
finish the unfinished work of the meeting-house, plastering 
the walls and overhead," so that fifteen years after the society 
was organized and fourteen after the site was fixed and the 
house commenced, this plain, but substantial meeting-house 
was finished. 

The men who had borne the burdens and transacted the 
business of this society during these fifteen years, were capable 
of endurance and many of them were physically strong. 

They were firm in their belief, receiving the Bible as the 
revealed word of God without question. 

They laid carefully the foundations of society, both in 
church and state, and made possible the transformation of 
the small farming community of a few hundred, into a busy 
city of tens of thousands. By marking this place of their 
early regard, we honor their memory. 



Sunday 



The stately edifice with the handsome Colonial interior 
was elaborately decorated for the occasion. The pulpit plat- 
form was banked with immense palms, while just in front of 
it, at the left, was massed a large bank of lillies. To the right 
were arranged more potted plants. These plants and flowers 
came, for the most part, from the greenhouse of Hon. Andrew 
J. Sloper of the Baptist Church, who very kindly loaned them 
for the occasion. A life sized picture of Dr. Smalley was 
displayed at the right of the pulpit. On the vestibule wall 
facing the main entrance of the church were two large shields, 
one of them bearing the figures 1758 and the other the figures 
1908, both dates in ornamental lettering. Distributed through- 
out the pews were copies of an artistic brochure prepared for 
the celebration giving the order of exercises for each day. 

The church was crowded, the galleries as well as the audi- 
torium being filled with an attentive and greatly interested 
audience. 




Rev. Henry W. Maier. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

BY REV. HENRY W. MAIER 

The genesis of the New England churches in general, and 
of this church in particular, is somewhere in the first century 
and had to do with the acts and works of certain men called 
apostles. The problems with which they had to do required 
the organization of churches and it is evident in the records 
of those who have written Congi'egational history that they 
formed their churches on Congregational lines. Proof of this 
can be found in any history of Congregationalism. 

The more immediate causes that had to do with the 
forming of the New England churches may be found in the 
body of people who conceived the idea that the Church of 
England needed to be reformed or was beyond reforming and 
these persons were indiscreet enough to let their ideas be 
known. The Church of England through its religious authori- 
ties did not seem to desire a reformation, and so indicated to 
this group of persons with the added information that they 
preferred their room to their company. And many of the 
companions of these who came here were maltreated by the 
English authorities. Such a hint, given not exactly as a hint, 
was taken and the little company left the shores of England 
and stopped for a season in the little republic of Holland; 
afterwards setting sail, they came to the great unknown wilder- 
ness of the new continent. * 

We wonder at times concerning the power that impelled 
them in this move. It is said that all men have religious 
instincts, but it is well known that this religious instinct does 
not move all men to make sacrifices for the sake of their relig- 
ious belief. Hence we naturally ask what is the difference 
between a religious instinct and the religious force oper- 
ting within the soul of man. This religious instinct becomes 
religious force when the life comes into vital touch with the 
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



36 

The effect of that contact gives what we may call the 
impelling force to the religious instinct. The history of that 
impelling force of religion is the history of the New England 
churches. Included in this, is our First Church in New Britain 
and it is to trace the record of the operation of that impelling 
force that we are gathered together this day. It was that that 
led the early Pilgrims to seek refuge first in Holland and then 
in the unwelcoming shores of New England. It could not 
have been for social purposes for they broke the dearest social 
ties that men know. It could not have been for worldly gain, 
for they had no idea that they were making history or that 
they were attaining to the richest treasures of material things 
which the world possesses. But forced by that religious energy 
within them they sought the inhospitable shores of New 
England for the sake of worshiping God according to the 
dictates of their own conscience. This is the explanation of 
the sacrifice made by those early settlers in behalf of religion. 
When they could afford nothing else they felt that they could 
ill afford to go without religious instruction. In places of 
danger, through tracts of wilderness, in the face of physical 
difficulties and with untiring energy, those men from Sabbath 
to Sabbath gathered together in rude and crude meeting- 
houses, unheated in winter except with the fire of their own 
devotion, and there expressed their love for the Supreme and 
His Son. 

They met in common worship in rude houses that they 
had built. It was this impelling religious force that led the 
people of the community for a long time to carry their children 
on their backs and with guns in their hands to walk from six 
to nine miles to attend the public services at the church at 
Farmington. This brings us to the first ecclesiastical relations 
of the people of this district which were with the church at 
Farmington, then a place of great importance, although not 
being then designated as Dr. van Dyke now designates it, a 
place of "aristocratic recollections." 

In 1705 the Kensington or Great Swamp society was 
formed. It included most of the district that is now known 
as New Britain and there for fifty years the people of this 
community worshiped. Difficulties concerning the location 
of a new church in the Great Swamp district ended in locating 
the church a mile farther away from this community than the 
old church had been. This led the men of the northern part 



37 

of the district to agitate the question of forming a new Eccles- 
iastical society and as early as 1739 they petitioned the General 
Assembly for a new organization. The petition was not 
granted then, but was renewed from time to time until 1754, 
when it was granted. Immediately measures were taken by 
the forty or more families residing within the district to erect 
a meeting-house which was ready for use as early as 1756. 
Thus this religious impelling force acted once more upon the 
hearts of the people and caused them to give self sacrificingly 
of their means for a more convenient place of worship and in 
the spirit of that forceful and heartful instinctive the First 
Church of New Britain was formed. 

One feels constrained to call attention to the character 
of the men who in this wilderness organized this church. They 
were physically strong men, of strong faith and of intense con- 
victions. They were men who believed fundamentally in 
freedom of conscience and who for that belief had sacrificed 
much of what men hold dear in this life. They were men who 
believed in the religious need of man, and one can hardly read 
their different petitions to the General Assembly of Connect- 
icut without being impressed with the consciousness that they 
had of their need of worship and of their need of assembliag 
themselves together for religious instruction. They were also 
deeply concerned about their children's religious welfare. 

There now happened one of the most important events 
in the history of the church. It was the calling of the first 
pastor. Extremely fortunate was the church in the man whom 
it obtained and without in any way reflecting upon the char- 
acter or attainments of those who thought best not to accept 
the call of this church, it can be said that it was fortunate 
that they did not accept and thus left the field open for him 
who did become the first pastor, the Rev. John Smalley. It is 
hard for us of this generation who look upon this church with 
its great membership, its fine equipment, its strong men and 
women eager to do the will of the Lord, who recognize it as 
one of the desirable churches in the Congregational communion, 
it is hard I say for us to think that there was a time when a 
call to this church was not considered a desirable call, for it 
meant material sacrifice and that great hardship must be 
endured by him who took up the burden of its leadership. 
Such was the case at the beginning and such it continued for 
many years. Dr. Smalley faced these problems and difficulties 



38 

with energy and faith and with deep and sound conviction that 
he was here placed where the Lord wanted him. 

While we cannot afford to extol the virtues of all the 
ministers who have faithfully served this church, for this 
church has been extremely fortunate in the character of the 
men that have ruled over it, yet we do feel that something 
ought to be said in regard to him who for fifty- two years guided 
this people, and who for ten more years was known as its pastor 
emeritus. Dr. Smalley was a striking looking man in personal 
appearance. He was tall and athletic, with a rather severe 
countenance and with a piercing eye. His whole make-up 
fitted him to be a theologian of the old school and this he 
eminently was. He was by nature an investigator. Every 
theological view had to pass through the crucible of his mind 
before he would permit it place in his theology. He was a 
great preacher, although he was not a popular preacher. His 
preaching was described as being doctrinal, intellectual and 
evangelical rather than vivid, figurative or impassioned. He 
was always very closely confined to his notes. This was partly 
due, no doubt, to the close reasoning of his arguments. Not 
in a free and easy way did he deliver his sermons but the line 
upon line and precept upon precept method. He rather dis- 
trusted the emotional, believing that the mind should be the 
strong factor in a man's relation to his God. He was eagerly 
sought for as a speaker on theological themes at church meet- 
ings. He was also eagerly sought for as an instructor of theol- 
ogy for those who desired to enter the Christian ministry. He 
was a keen and hard critic, but his students were always sound 
and it was not sounding brass. Perhaps his greatest sermon 
was on the theme, "The natural and moral inability of man." 
It is recorded of him that he was not a pleasant antagonist 
in a theological discussion for he was dictatorial and dogmatic. 
He was constitutionally irritable. He attributed differences 
of opinion to dullness of comprehension on the part of the 
antagonist, as others so often do. 

Dr. Smalley was not in sympathy with the Revolution at 
its start, but later realized its importance. He was always 
interested in civil affairs and often preached on politics. In 
a sense he was the government agent whose duty was clear in 
matters of the welfare of the country. On one occasion a 
parishioner reproached him on the grounds that he took politics 
into the pulpit. Dr. Smalley was at a loss to know what the 



39 

man meant. The man said that he, Dr. Smalley, could not 
keep politics out of his prayers and he answered, "I pray for 
all men and all classes, I pray for the righteous and the wicked, 
for the rulers and all that are in authority." The man answered, 
"When you pray for the righteous I know that you mean the 
Federalists and for the wicked I know that you mean the 
Whigs." In such ways do men read meaning into sentences 
and into sermons. 

The most important date in the history of this church is 
April 19, 1758, for on that day John Smalley was ordained to 
the Christian ministry, in a manner as many of the subsequent 
ministers of this church have been ordained, by laying on of 
the hands of the Presbytery. And the church of New Britain, 
consisting of seventeen persons from the church in Newington 
and fifty-one from the church of Kensington, began its exist- 
ence. 

Let us now imagine ourselves on a given Sunday morning 
attending the service. Preparations have been completed 
in every home at six o'clock the night before, and on Sabbath 
morning there remained only the breakfast duties, the saddling 
of the horses, the riding to the church, all of which was accom- 
plished before the time of the service. From East Street, 
Stanley Street and Main Street, (I suppose they were then 
called roads) in every direction we see people approaching 
the meeting-house. The person who is "given rates" for beat- 
ing the drum, is lustily performing his duty and the reverber- 
ating sound is heard far and near. We enter with the congre- 
gation before the minister arrives. The solemnity of the 
occasion seems to be upon all except the eternal boy who needs 
a special officer to look after his religious behavior, which officer 
was provided in these early services. We now find ourselves 
in a large room like a hall without ornamentation. The high 
pulpit with its great sounding board over it gives us a feeling 
of strangeness. The method of seating the congregation 
strikes us as strange. The pews are box pews with doors. 
Some of the occupants face the pulpit and others sit with their 
backs to the minister and we notice that the women sit with 
their backs to the pulpit while the men sit in solemn dignity 
facing the preacher. We now have an opportunity to observe 
the relative positions of the men of the community as they are 
seated in church according to rank, as first, second, third and 
fourth. 



40 

The minister now approaches with dignified tread and 
solemn mien. He taps his foot upon the door sill and the men 
arise and stand until the minister takes his place. Then fol- 
lows a service too long for us to follow here, as the prayer and 
the sermon often occupied two hours of time. 

Church affairs ran an uneventful course until the disturbing 
times of the Revolution. It has never seemed to me that all 
the causes of the Revolution have been brought to the fore. 
The immediate cause, no doubt, was the political injustices 
of the mother country, but we must remember that these 
political injustices were inflicted upon the sons and daughters, 
the grandsons and granddaughters of those who had already 
felt her religious injustices. It is doubtful in my mind if the 
events of that period would have culminated in the Revolution 
if there had not been back of it that deep resentment which 
burned into the hearts of those strong religious men and women 
who had been obliged to suffer so much because of their religious 
faith. Those were times when men differed greatly as to the 
merits of the struggle, when families were divided against them- 
selves and churches were split. Some believed that the colonies 
should submit to the mother country, having as a basis the 
idea of the right of kings to rule. Others believed that the only 
course open to the colonies was to resist and claim their political 
as they long ago claimed their religious freedom. It was 
a question for a long time what would be the outcome, but 
that something which has always asserted itself in the history 
of this church kept men true to the ideals of religion through 
all these trying experiences. The number from this parish 
who gave services in the Revolution is thirty-seven. 

New ideas began to creep in upon the religious life of the 
church and were felt here. The idea of the need of a more 
systematic teaching of the Holy Scripture than was given 
in the then prevailing method of church life and activity, was 
felt. Thirty-five years before there had been started in 
Gloucester, England, by Robert Raikes, what had been called 
a Sunday School. It is hard for us to believe that this sys- 
tematic teaching of the word of God to the children is not older 
than it is, for it is quite a little less than one hundred years 
old in the State of Connecticut. This church was the pioneer 
in introducing that much needed reform in church life, as a 
Sunday School was organized in 1816, with the Rev. Newton 
Skinner as the first president. This was the same year that 



41 

the first Sunday School was organized in New York, but slow 
Philadelphia had organized one 25 years before. I need not 
further refer to the history of the Sunday School of this church 
as we are to have distributed here to-day its written history. 
I need not say more than this — richly has this church been 
blessed for all that she has done in behalf of her Sunday School. 

One never feels the importance of new ideas when they first 
creep into the life of the church or of the community. I think 
that it may be said without contradiction that the first sixty 
years of the life of this church was the same as that of most of 
the New England churches, for all her ideas were local and there 
was little or no sense of responsibility for anything outside the 
bounds of her own parish. It is true that here and there a 
single teacher would start out and attempt to teach the Indians, 
but it was not thought of as a responsibility that rested on the 
church as a whole. It was not until after 1806 that the churches 
became conscious of any responsibility beyond the borders of 
their own parishes. Then there began to creep in upon the 
spirit of men, the thought that there were places, races and 
even continents for whom they had a responsibility. Thus 
the great missionary movemicnt of the last century began. Dr. 
Smalley, though prominently connected with all that pertained 
to Connecticut Congregationalism, was at that time too feeble 
to participate in the great movement, but it was not long before 
we find this church taking her part in this great work and early 
did she begin to give of her means to the spreading of the gospel 
throughout the world. The American Board of Commissioners 
of Foreign Missions, through its secretary. Dr. Cornehus H. 
Patton, whose wife is a descendant of our famous Dr. Smalley, 
writes that in looking over the records of the gifts from this 
church to foreign missions he discovers that the first gift was 
given in May, 1824 and was $15.89. He further remarks, 
"This gift reached far back and it is a starter for a long and 
fine record on the part of your people." 

During the last ten years of Dr. Smalley's life there was 
associated with him the Rev. Newton Skinner, who seemed 
during that time not to have made a remarkable impression 
upon the life of the church, but after Dr. Smalley's death and 
during the great awakening of 1819 and 1820 which began at 
Saratoga and Albany and extended to New Britain in 1821, 
the great powers of the man revealed themselves and the results 
of his labors became apparent. At one communion held on Aug- 



42 

ust 5th, 1821, eighty-six joined with this church, including the 
most prominent men of New Britain, and in four months one 
hundred and twenty new names were added to the role. After 
these additions, which gave new zeal to church attendance, the 
meeting-house in which they worshiped was felt to be unworthy 
of the congregation, nor did it fill the needs of the community. 
With noble self-sacrifice and self-denial and with great enthusi- 
asm, likened much to the enthusiasm of the children of Israel 
placing the temple on Mount Zion, they built a noble structure 
as the picture of the church reveals to us. Dr. Skinner was 
not long permitted to enjoy the fruits of his labor and died 
soon after the church was completed, which was in 1822. 

But we must not think that the history of this church was 
all made by the people who first organized it or by the ministers 
who first served it. They were the first fruits of a great harvest 
of men and women who in this organization have given service 
to God. Time does not permit us to give details of the different 
pastorates, but a roll call is in order: 

The Rev. John Smalley, D.D., 1758, died 1820. 

The Rev. Newton Skinner, 1810—1825. 

The Rev. Henry Jones, 1825—1827. 

The Rev. Jonathan Cogswell, D.D., 1829—1834. 

The Rev. Dwight M. Seward, D.D., 1836—1842. 

The Rev. Chester S. Lyman, 1843—1845. 

The Rev. Charles S. Sherman, 1845—1849. 

The Rev. Ebenezer B. Andrews, 1850—1851. 

The Rev. Horace Winslow, 1852—1857. 

The Rev. Lavalette Perrin, D.D., 1858—1870. 

The Rev. John H. Denison, D. D., 1871—1878. 

The Rev. E. H. Richardson, D.D., 1879, died 1883. 

The Rev. G. Stockton Burroughs, Ph.D., 1884—1886. 

The Rev. William Burnet Wright, D.D., 1888—1894. 

The Rev. George H. Sandwell, 1894—1897. 

The Rev. Russell T. Hall, D.D., 1897—1905. 
and the present pastor. Associated with some of these was 
the honored Rev. M. B. Boardman, who so long labored for 
the interests of this church, and mention should also be made 
of the present associate pastor of this church whose parish 
requires that he should labor far from us. I refer to our mis- 
sionary, George B. Cowles, of Natal, South Africa. Three of 
the above mentioned. Dr. Denison, Dr. Wright and Mr. Sand- 
well are with us to-day. 



43 

Let me at this point introduce a few figures. First notice 
that in the first half of this church's Ufe, it had but three pas- 
tors and in the second half it now has its fourteenth. 

The statistics of membership are interesting. During the 
first century of its life there were added by confession and by 
letter 1,205, but deaths and removals during this time left the 
membership at the end of the century 254. From that time 
on we show the increase by giving the membership at the end 
of each decade. 

1858—254. 

1868—406. 

1878—526. 

1888—714. 

1898—725. 

1908—851. 

Smoothly the church moved along, gradually increasing 
in membership and in power, when the greatest controversy in 
which this country ever engaged swept its blighting breath over 
this church. As early as 1840 those holding different opinions 
as to what the United States should do concerning the slavery 
question, started different societies and the church's relation to 
this great movement created different sects in this organization. 
It is better for us no doubt to pass over this by simply mention- 
ing the fact that the differences of the people were so great that 
one hundred and twenty members of this church petitioned 
that a new society should be organized and the South Con- 
gregational Church of New Britain, daughter of the old 
mother church, came into existence. I have no disposition or 
desire to probe into the secret feelings or open causes, for 
the results have proven it to be the will of God, as surely as 
His blessings have followed both churches. 

The thing of great importance is that now no mistake be 
made in the relations or fellowship that exist between these two 
churches. They were never more closely united than they are 
at the present. May that relationship grow better and deeper 
as the years go by, and if in time to come it should be wise that 
these again be united, we hope the changes necessary to be 
made would not be changes of friendship, love and fellowship. 

We do not find much concerning the 100th anniversary, 
or that it was celebrated in any marked way, but one great 
event marks the passing of that time. The dedication of this 
church building took place in August, 1855, ninety-seven years 



44 

after the first meeting-house was started, which was built 
during the years 1755 and 1756, one hundred years before this 
house of worship was completed. 

Perhaps one of the greatest changes that has come to this 
church is the change of environment. For almost one hundred 
years it was a rural community and the constituency of this 
church were almost entirely agriculturists. Now this is entirely 
a city church, with not more than twenty families out of six 
hundred families, residing in the rural community. The closer 
associations of men in civil life have brought their great prob- 
lems not only to the depleted country churches, but have brought 
added burdens to the city church. The bringing together 
of these elements that converge in the centers of population 
makes a great responsibility for those who are intrusted with 
the care of the urban churches. The relative cost of maintain- 
ing a religious organization has greatly increased. Dr. Smalley 
never received more than one hundred pounds per annum and 
the average cost per member was never more than four dollars 
and seldom equalled that. The cost has greatly increased. 
Bearing in mind the great difference in monetary conditions 
between that time and now, we would call attention to the fact 
that it now costs more than $15 per member to maintain a 
modem organization and its many activities and benevolences. 

Sacrifice is necessary now to be able to carry on the work. 
One can see this change in the number of organizations which 
are a part of every modern church. Organization of young 
people was needed and that need was felt very early in this 
church. More than forty years ago a society for young people 
was formed, years before Christian Endeavor was ever thought 
of. The society had a pledge which was far more strict and 
binding than the pledge of Christian Endeavor, and its object 
was to develop the minds of its members, to teach the Shorter 
Catechism, which is to-day ruled out of our church life. Many 
of its great conceptions we are sorry to say, seem to have gone 
with it. It was a sorry day when such ideas were no longer 
thought about. Well would it be if we could again make a 
great many people believe that it was important and that it is 
important that we have a definite idea as to what is the chief 
end of man. In many cases it seems that the chief end of man 
is to gather together as much of this world's goods as he can, 
or to have a good time. Who can know the loss when human 
vision no longer sees that the "chief end of man is to glorify 



45 

God and to enjoy Him forever." This was the kind of material 
that our young people thought about in the early organized 
society. When Christian Endeavor proved itself worthy of 
the activities of our young people, this church readily changed 
the form of its young people's society into that of Christian 
Endeavor and since that time it has done remarkable and 
noble work in the interests of this church. 

Another feature of modern church life is the use of woman. 
Little place was found for her except upon the roll, in the early 
history of this church, but a large place is found for her in the 
modern church activities. The social and sociable conscience 
of the church seems to have been aroused at about the same 
period, and no church is thought to be well organized which 
does not have its women's societies for almost every form of 
religious activity. I do not thus late in the sermon speak of 
her because she was late with her activities. Not much in 
the ruling line was committed to her. St. Paul for a long time 
extended his dominating thought over her activities, she must 
work in secret and she did, unobserved, unnoticed by the 
Chronicler of New England history. The mothers in New 
England like the mothers of Israel were potent factors in the 
religious life of the community. As early as the year 1815 
and 1816, before there was a Sunday School in the State of 
Connecticut, only five years after the first Foreign Missionary 
Society was organized, there was a women's society which in 
those years made contributions to Home Missionary work, and 
through these ninety-three years has kept up this good work. 

A Ladies' Foreign Missionary society w^as formed in this 
church in 1872 and is now a part of that great company of 
noble women who furnish a third of the annual contributions 
to the foreign missionary work of the churches. This would 
suggest the possible advantage of better missionary organizations 
among the men. 

Perhaps no change is greater in religious life than the rise 
of the social consciousness of people, the ethical demand of this 
age, asserting its duty and responsibility concerning the indus- 
trial, commercial and social conditions of men. The industrial 
period through which we are passing and which bids fair to 
change a phase not only of the world's belief, but also the whole 
human attitude toward life, is to be grappled with by the 
church and she is beginning to understand something of her 
social mission. Is not this the true conception of the work of 



46 

the church? Jesus' life was certainly spent in social service, 
not perhaps in theoretical adjustment of industrial relations, 
although who can say that the spirit of that life could not in 
the 20th century enter into and adjust that great problem. 
Certainly the most marked expression of His life was that of 
social service in behalf of those who had greatest need of His 
ministrations. The organization of the Young Men's Christian 
Association whose first conception was simply the development 
of the religious life of the young man, did not carry in its original 
intention any other idea. Even that has developed so rapidly 
along social lines that to-day its expression is almost entirely 
an expression of great social ser/ice. This has given a hint to 
the church of the value of men's organizations in developing 
the social conscience of the church. For many years in this 
church there has been a Brotherhood, the very name of which 
suggests its mission. Dr. Hall organized a men's Bible class 
and within the last year a Baraca Club has been formed which 
promises to this church the energy of fifty or more young men. 

Through all these years and through all these changes the 
essential elements of religion have remained the same. The 
church is still characterized as having faith, hope and love. 

Four times have extraordinary demands been made upon 
this congregation. In 1755 conditions demanded a building. 
Again in 1822 the exigencies of the situation required that a 
new church should be built. And still further in 1854 more 
commodious quarters were needed. To each of these demands 
the congregation responded nobly. Has that spirit left the 
church? Two years ago the necessity of providing better and 
greater accommodations for Sunday School and social work was 
presented to the congregation, at the same time the need of 
renovating the church was impressed upon the people and in this 
day it is shown that the spirit and mantle of the fathers have 
descended to the church even to this generation. 

In conclusion may I draw attention to a few of the marked 
characteristics of this church as they have been impressed upon 
me in my researches. 

I have spoken of the ministers, that noble band of men, 
who by faith have led the activities of this church. Further 
than that I have been impressed by the character of the people 
who have made its rank and file. If I were to begin to call 
the roll of those whose characters have been impressed for 
good upon the community, we would have no further service 



47 

this day. Men who took their places in the councils of the 
church and state and nation, and one at least to whom the 
world has given attention, in this church have worshiped and 
labored. And to-day after one hundred and fifty years have 
passed one of the chief characteristics of this church is the 
strong and mighty men whose names appear on the roll of 
membership. This church has been and is noted for its men. 

Another thing to be noticed is that this church has always 
been evangelistic. Full sjnnpathy and co-operation have been 
given to every movement looking toward the evangelization 
of humanity. It was characteristic of the early church his- 
torian to chronicle the revivals that took place. During the 
ministrations of almost every minister this feature has been 
noted. 

It is well for us to have distinctly in mind this truth. The 
church is the representative of the Christ who came to seek and 
to save the lost. That commission this church has accepted to a 
marked degree, more marked than has been the acceptance 
of it by many churches. It may be that the conception of 
salvation is a broader idea, with greater meaning than the 
forefathers gave it, but the spirit of the church should not 
change. The work is still to seek and to save the lost. Great 
spiritual waves have swept over this community, praying men 
and women have waited on the Lord and He has blessed them 
and the community. Patiently and prayerfully have the 
members of this church sought to win men and women into 
the kingdom of God. Her ministers have faithfully preached 
this word of truth, special evangelistic methods have been used 
and evangelists have been employed to carry out this spirit. 
We should not forget that we have an evangelistic inheritance. 

Again a marked feature of this church has been her mission- 
ary zeal. Whatever may be said about the harsh theology of 
the New England churches, it did not prevent, but rather 
impelled broad views of the obligations of the church to men. 
It was in the New England churches that missionary life was 
first felt, and it has been their glory that the life has developed. 
This church became one of the missionary churches of the 
denomination and has kept that missionary spirit even until 
now. Early in the history a Miss Hough went from this 
church as a missionary to the Indians. Miss Eliza Talcott, 
now a missionary in Japan was also from our church, and our 
own representative in Africa is the Rev. George B. Cowles 



48 

whose name is on our calendar each week. Another former 
member of this church is in the foreign missionary work, Miss 
Pierce, but of another church. 

This gives a stamp to the church of missionary enthusiasm 
which we should feel proud to note, and when we add to that 
the noble gifts of the members of this church to the work of 
missions, we feel that we have well established the title of a 
missionary church. 

One other feature of this church has been impressed upon 
me. Her interest and influence in public affairs. In the early 
history she was the community, she was the unit of civil life. 
The affairs of the township were considered at her meetings 
and the town meetings were held in the church. The dissolu- 
tion of the bond of union between state and church did not 
relegate the New England church from political affairs. 

It has always been considered the province of the pulpit 
to discuss the affairs of state and it has been considered the 
duty of the members to shoulder the responsibility of state. 
They were the state. The form has changed but the spirit 
is still upon the church. She felt the burden of conditions, 
she felt the responsibility for civil conditions and even now 
assumes her prerogative and right to lay before religious men 
the duties of citizenship. 

These four: Strong men, evangelistic spirit, missionary 
zeal, commonwealth interest, have marked the life of this 
church. 

We stand to-day on an eminence and view a vision beauti- 
ful. But are we not Janus-like with two faces? Janus has 
been slandered by being thought false because he was two- 
faced. But was he not like us simply looking in two directions? 
With one face old and worn, encircled with a crown of glory, 
because found in the way of righteousness, deep lines are 
furrowed into the face but the whole expression is victory. 
We look back over the years, a hutidred and fifty of them well 
employed, and the light of joy and reward is in the face. The 
other face, young and strong and manly, looks to the future. 
Strength and courage and hope bum in that eye. Readiness 
to do, and to do nobly, is marked on that brow. And do you 
ask which is this church? I answer, both — both. 




Mr. Edward H. Davison. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

BY MR. EDWARD H. DAVISON 

"/ believe that there is no field of labor, no field of Christian benevolence, 
which has yielded a greater harvest to our national interests, and national char- 
acter, than the great institution of the Sunday School." — John Bright in an 
address at London in 1887. 

The foregoing estimate of the educating and evangelizing 
agency of the Sunday School in England twenty years ago by 
so competent and impartial an observer is also without doubt 
true of the United States, and especially of New England. 

The influence of the modern Sunday School movement 
has doubtless contributed more to the religious progress of our 
country than any other agency. 

It is difficult to realize at this distance of time the great 
change which was speedily wrought by the advent of the Sun- 
day School in the prevailing sentiment of parents, teachers 
and pastors, concerning, the religious needs and capabilities 
of children as objects of church effort and church care. 

In his admirable memorial address upon the life of Deacon 
Alfred Andrews, (in 1876), Elihu Burritt referred to the influ- 
ence which the coming of the Sunday School exerted upon this 
church as follows : 

"The origin of this institution was a new and most impor- 
tant point of departure in the religious life and history of New 
Britain, both in regard to young and old. Under the old 
theological regime of Dr. Smalley, the first settled minister, 
children were scarcely allowed 'to be seen,' much less 'to be 
heard.' Up to an age which he and the like of him did not 
precisely define, they were not regarded as subjects of saving 
grace, or fitted for admission into the family of the Christian 
Church. He preached no sermons they could understand 
but as one who now remembers them well tells me, his favorite 
dogma from one year's end to another was the doctrine of 
election, presented in its severest aspects. Like other dis- 
tinguished divines of the same age and theolog>% he seemed to 
exact it as the test of a proper mind, that for the glory of 



50 

God and in accordance with His will, a man should accept 
salvation or perdition with the same gladness and gratitude. 
Of course, a Sunday School, to fit children for the kingdom of 
heaven before the fore-ordained age, could not grow up under 
such preaching. Nor was this all. Without a Sunday School, 
no lay member of the church had any permission or oppor- 
tunity to open his lips at that time in a religious meeting. 
Under Dr. Smalley, there were no social prayer meetings, nor 
religious meetings of any kind on Sunday evening or any other 
evening of the week. He preached twice on Sunday and gave 
six preparatory lectures in the year, and no other voice than 
his was heard imparting religious instruction." 

The institution of the Sunday School in 1816, under Rev. 
Newton Skinner, successor of Dr. Smalley, was the starting- 
point of a new form of Christian life, effort and experience in 
New Britain. In it children were not only taught the vital 
truths of the Gospel, but their teachers taught and trained 
themselves to conduct religious meetings and to speak to 
large companies of all ages. It is not too much to say, that 
the Sunday School, in New Britain at least, brought into life 
with it, the social week-evening prayer meeting, and developed 
the first lay power of our churches for active Christian work. 
For the first few years the Sunday School gave but little scope 
to the development of this latent force. For the children occu- 
pied nearly all of the time, and few other voices were heard 
during the hour. They were only expected to commit to 
memory and to repeat verses of Scripture to their teachers on 
the Sabbath, and as they were stimulated by an ambition to 
excel each other in this mental effort, a teacher sometimes had 
to call in help in order that all his class might be heard. Thus 
he had no time to say anything to them, except to correct a 
recitation. One of the most ambitious of these scholars was 
Eliza Shipman, sister of the wife of Deacon Andrews. In a 
letter written to him a few years before her death, she thus 
describes the system under Deacon Whittlesey, the first 
superintendent: 

"A prize was offered to the pupil, or pupils, who should 
commit to memory the greatest number of verses during the 
summer; as having a Sunday School through the winter was 
not then thought of. In my class were Nancy Whittlesey, 
Electa Lee, with myself, and some others. We were very 
ambitious and in earnest to get the prize, which I think was 



51 

a Bible. We had tickets; I do not remember how many 
verses we were to commit to get a ticket, but I remember that 
Nancy Whittlesey and myself committed to memory and recited 
each 700 verses one Sabbath." 

It is greatly to be regretted that there are in existence no 
continuous records of this Sunday School, and the absence of 
them, especially those of its earlier periods, has rendered the 
preparation of a detailed review of the progress of the school 
very difficult. 

In addition to what has been gathered from the records 
of the church, and from the invaluable history of Deacon 
Alfred Andrews, my sources of information have been the 
minutes of the Wethersfield and Berlin Sunday School Union 
(organized in 1832), various historical essays, a memorial 
address by Elihu Burritt upon the life of Alfred Andrews, and 
also from letters and reminiscences of the older members of 
the church who are now living, together with my own recol- 
lections. 

As has been already stated, this Sunday School had its 
beginning in the year 1816 and according to Deacon Andrews, 
who was not likely to be mistaken, it has the distinguished 
honor of being the first in Connecticut. At that time there 
was certainly no other Sunday School in Hartford County, 
and the next to follow in order of date, was that of the Mother 
Church at Farmington, whose history dates from the following 
year, 1817. 

It was during the pastorate of Rev. Newton Skinner, that 
the school was organized, probably in the early spring of 1816, 
and its existence has been continuous from that time to the 
present. 

During its early years, it appears to have been under the 
care of a "Sunday School Society" which was formed with a 
constitution and various officers. Rev. Mr. Skinner being its 
president and Deacon David Whittlesey its first superintendent. 

In the early spring of 1826 the school was re-organized, 
and about this time it seems to have come more directly under 
the care of the church, as a part of its own organization, as 
we find it stated that "the School is sustained by the Church." 

(Note) — Mr. Cornelius Andrews, who is the nephew of " Eliza Shipman." before mentioned, 
informs me that she was but nine years of age at the time to which this letter refers, and that 
in her aft^r life she read the entire Bible by course each year for thirty-nine consecutive 
years. In her letter to Deacon .Andrews she also writes : 

"Undr-r such conditions the teachers made no attempts to explain, u.> it was as much as 
they could do to hear the class repeat, and one scholar was often OKlnd to hear some of the 
atbers, in order to get through in time for the commencement of the afternoon services." 



52 

A few years later, it is also said that "the School is sustained 
by the Church, and its officers appointed at the Annual Fast." 

At the present time and for many years past, the officers 
of the Sunday School have been appointed by the church at 
its annual meeting in January, upon the nomination of the 
teachers. 

At the re-organization of the School in 1826 Alfred Andrews 
was chosen superintendent, and his record for Sunday, April 
23d, shows that there was an attendance that day of one hun- 
dred and twenty-five children and eighteen teachers. 

For the following Sunday, April 30th, the record is as 
follows: 

"School opened with prayer by the superintendent — ^six 
teachers appointed. School went into operation. Teachers 
feel interested, prospect fair, weather clear." 

The sessions were opened with prayer, and usually closed 
by an address and singing. 

The lessons that year were mostly from the gospel by Luke. 

The third annual report by Deacon Andrews, made to 
the church and congregation, and printed in the Hartford 
County Sabbath School Union, April, 1829, gives its condition 
at that time as follows: 

"The school embraces a superintendent, assistant super- 
intendent, forty-one teachers, and two hundred and seventy- 
three scholars." 

"Nine teachers and twenty-eight scholars have made a 
public profession of religion the past year." 

"The School has been continued through the past winter 
with much profit, and has shared richly in the revival which 
commenced in August and continued through the winter." 

Sunday School Lessons 

During the earliest years of its existence, the scholars 
learned passages and texts of scripture without question, book 
or commentary, and their only "Bible helps" at that time were 
their own inquiring minds, and retentive memories. 

At the re-organization in 1826, or very soon after, a system 
of uniform lessons for the School seems to have been adopted, 
as the record states that "the teachers remained after divine ser- 
vice and the lesson was explained to them" and for a number of 
years the so-called "Union Question Books" were in use by 
the school. 



63 

When the plans for the simultaneous study of the same 
portion of the Bible, by different Sunday Schools throughout 
the world were originated (about the year 1866), which has 
been called "one of the most important steps for the universal 
extension of the cause of Christianity made since the days of 
the Apostles," this Sunday School at once adopted the "Inter- 
national Lesson System" and has ever since continued its use. 
And now under the influence of this course of instruction, the 
best and freshest work of the best and strongest biblical scholars 
on both sides of the Atlantic is made available as a help to the 
ordinary study of the teacher and scholar in their preparation 
of the weekly lesson. 

The same progressive spirit in the methods and plans of 
the school has been manifest in regard to 

TEACHERS' Meetings 

Meetings of the teachers were held in 1826 at which "the 
lesson was explained to them," and in the first report to the 
Union in 1833 it is stated that "the teachers meet every Friday 
evening." These meetings were usually held at private houses, 
and were conducted by the superintendent. 

During one or two summers the teachers' meetings were 
held in the Academy building on Sunday morning "at the 
ringing of the first bell." 

In 1837 there occurred a powerful revival of religion in the 
School, about seventy conversions being reported, and during 
that year and the next it appears the teachers were accustomed 
to "meet on Friday evenings to study the lesson, and on Satur- 
day evenings to pray." 

The teachers' meetings for the study of the lesson, have 
been since regularly maintained and have often been conducted 
by the pastor but at the present time are under the leadership 
of Mr. F. L. Hungerford. 

Library 

Whether the School possessed a library prior to its re- 
organization in 1826, does not appear. It is certain, however, 
that it had one at that time, as there is a record of its distribu- 
tion on the 14th of May, and in 1829 it is reported as numbering 
three hundred and fifty volumes. 



54 

A former teacher in a letter written in 1882, wrote of its 
earlier years as follows: "Various methods were adopted to 
circulate and preserve the books." 

One librarian had a systematic and safe plan which was 
this. He buckled together in a leather strap as many books 
as there were scholars in a class, and attached the teacher's 
name to the strap. 

Then they were sent to the different classes with the under- 
standing that they were to remain until every scholar had read 
each book. 

For many years the library has been in charge of a com- 
mittee appointed annually, whose duty it is to thoroughly 
examine every book which it is proposed to add to the library. 

Each book is read by one or more competent judges and 
only those are placed on the library shelves which have the 
endorsement of the committee. 

Monthly Concerts 

For many years, according to a widely prevalent custom, 
the "Sunday School Concert" was held on the second Sunday 
evening of each month. 

This meeting seems to have been instituted as a concert of 
prayer for the School. It, however, gradually changed its 
character, and became a children's or young people's meeting, 
the exercises consisting of singing, recitations by the scholars 
and addresses by the pastor, superintendent and others; and 
the entire service was usually arranged so as to illustrate some 
special subject, some topic of biblical study or a review of the 
lessons of the preceding quarter. 

At this time there was no Young People's Society of Chris- 
tian Endeavor or any other similar organization for the young 
people of the church, and their activities were confined to the 
Sunday School and its "monthly concert." 

With the advent of the "Christian Endeavor" and other 
societies, the Sunday School concert gave place to other forms 
of service for the young people, and in later years has been 
discontinued. 

CHILDREN'S Sunday 

During the pastorate of Dr. Richardson the so-called 
"Children's Sunday" was first observed in 1881, and every 



65 

year since that time it has been a most beautiful and interest- 
ing anniversary. 

On Children's Sunday in place of the usual morning ser- 
vice, there are exercises of the Sunday School, the church being 
profusely decorated with roses and garlands of flowers, while 
the young children of the primary classes are grouped about 
the pulpit platform and stairs. 

Then follows a baptismal service for infants, the presenta- 
tion of Bibles by the pastor on behalf of the church to all 
children who have attained the age of seven years during the 
preceding twelve months, and a "gift service" during which 
baskets of choice flowers, fruits, and delicacies for the sick, 
are contributed by each class of the school, and as a part of 
the exercises are brought to the platform to be sent during the 
afternoon to those members of the congregation who are sick, 
or in sorrow and trouble, as a loving remembrance from the 
church. 

In this connection it should be mentioned that the primary 
department of this Sunday School was the first to be organized 
in New Britain, and it has ever been cherished by the church 
with an affectionate interest. 

In the report of 1833 mention is made of the interesting 
Infant Class numbering eighty-four. 

In its earlier days it met in the Academy which stood near 
the church, but when the present edifice was dedicated in 
1855, this department was transferred to the parlors of the 
church. 

Its first superintendent was Eliza Shipman, and she was 
followed by Rebecca Whittlesey, Mrs. Charlotte (Hine) Stan- 
ley, and possibly one or two others, for brief terms previous 
to 1855, when Mrs. Abbie (Peck) Lee commenced a period of 
most devoted and successful service which continued until 
her removal from New Britain in 1892. 

During those thirty-seven years in which the primary 
department was in charge of Mrs. Lee, nearly all the young 
people of the congregation had been under her loving care and 
influence, and to-day a very large number of the adult members 
of the church have sweet memories of their connection with 
the primary department, and of the winning lessons of Mrs. 
Lee. 

Since Mrs. Lee's removal the following have been in 
charge of the department : Miss Anna C. Walter, Mrs. L. S. Har- 
ris, Miss Frances Whittlesey and Miss Mary Whittlesey. 



56 

Christmas 

The Christmas festival has for fifty years or more, been 
made a very joyous occasion for the younger classes of the 
school, and at one period all of its members both old and young, 
had a part in the exercises. The Christmas tree, bearing all 
manner of gifts for the children, has ever been strongly rooted 
in this church, and there have also been many other special 
features in connection with the distribution of gifts to the 
scholars, which have added to their Christmas joy. 

For a long time it has been customary for the School to 
arrange for an annual outing or picnic, when the scholars and 
teachers have enjoyed a fine afternoon in some pleasant shady 
grove, or beside some charming lake where there were sports 
and games for the young people, bountiful tables spread under 
the trees, sweet songs by the children; all conspiring to make 
the sweet summer day one of great enjoyment. 

During its entire history the Sunday School has been 
regarded as the "nursery of the church," and a very large 
percentage of the growth of the latter, has been in the acces- 
sions to its membership from the ranks of the School. 

The steady progress of the Sunday School movement in 
this country has not only included the children and youth, but 
there has also been a wide expansion of the Sunday School 
idea which has extended to the adult membership of the 
churches, and the foremost scholars of the foremost universi- 
ties of the world have been summoned to bear a part in the 
illustration, or application, of the current lesson themes. 

Our own Sunday School has ever been favored with the 
active co-operation of the most influential men and women 
of the church, who as teachers in its several departments have 
freely given of their time and their best efforts to its work. 

The late Elihu Burritt, the most distinguished citizen of 
New Britain during its entire history, conducted a class of 
young men until his failing health compelled his retirement. 

The Hon. Valentine B. Chamberlain upon his return to New 
Britain after his distinguished service as an officer in the Union 
Army during the Civil War, enlisted as a teacher in this Sunday 
School and continued in the work for the remainder of his life. 

There are now connected with the school many earnest 
men and women, including a number of the leading profes- 
sional and business men of the city, who are earnestly engaged 
week by week in the systematic study of the Bible. 



67 

All of the pastors of the church without exception have 
maintained very intimate and helpful relations to the Sunday 
School, and in all possible ways have heartily co-operated with 
the officers and teachers. Some of them, especially Dr. Bur- 
roughs and Dr. Hall, very zealously (but perhaps unwisely) 
taxed their strength by following their usual Sunday morning 
service in the pulpit, with another hour in the Sunday School, 
as leaders of an adult Bible Class. 

Since the death of Dr. Hall, the class which was under his 
care, comprising a large number of men of the congregation, 
has been very successfully continued in charge of Mr. F. L. 
Hungerford. 

Patriotism 

The eventful years of 1861-65 showed that the same patri- 
otic spirit which was so marked in this church during the war 
of the Revolution was still conspicuous in the struggle for the 
preservation of the Union. 

When the Northern States were roused to action by the 
attack upon the nation's flag, this Sunday School shared the 
prevailing impulse and was nobly represented in the field, and 
bore its full share in the great conflict. 

The report in 1862 to the Sunday School Union shows 
that twenty-one members of the School were at that time 
enrolled in the Union Army. The records of the Union and the 
annual reports of its meetings contain many items of interest. 

In 1836 an arrangement was made whereby each School 
should receive semi-annually a neighborly visit from a com- 
mittee of the other schools, and it was voted "that the visitors 
do not travel on the Sabbath in fulfilling their duty." 

It was also suggested that they go on Saturday so as to 
attend a teachers' meeting on Saturday evening. 

The annual meetings of the Union on the second Tuesday 
of September were occasions of much interest and there was 
always a large and enthusiastic attendance. 

They were held upon the invitation of each school in 
rotation, and the following item concerning the forty-sixth 
anniversary which was held in this church in 1877 illustrates 
some of the changes which have taken place on Main Street. 
At that time the church owned a much larger lot than at 
present, with a wide frontage on the street. 



58 

"The convention adjourned at 12.30 to the beautiful 
church grounds, south of the church, where an awning had been 
erected over extended tables literally loaded with floral decor- 
ations, fruits and refreshments. 

"About two hundred guests were soon seated, the divine 
blessing was invoked by Rev. Mr. Griffin, and a large corps 
of ladies of the First Church responded to every want of the 
large company present, in a style that would be difficult to 
duplicate." 

It should also be added that at the afternoon session of 
the same day, one part of the programme was as follows: 

"The Adult Department, its Importance, and How to 
Develop It," by "C. E. Mitchell, Esq., of New Britain," and 
a, very discriminating report says that "the topic was very 
impressively presented." 

^11. The history of the Sunday School, like that of all other 
institutions, is inseparable from individual life and character, 
and for this reason this sketch would be incomplete without 
special reference to the work and influence of Deacon Alfred 
Andrews. 

He was connected with the school from its organization, 
and for sixty busy years labored with great earnestness as 
an officer or teacher. 

Elihu Burritt writes of him as follows: 

"The life of Alfred Andrews blends with the history of this 
Church and Sunday School, and of the entire religious record 
of New Britain from 1816 to the day of his death in 1876." 

He was about eighteen years old when the Sunday School 
was founded, and Deacon Whittlesey, the superintendent, 
enlisted him as a teacher, and from that day to the end of his 
long life his interest in the institution never waned, but seemed 
to grow warmer and deeper with his advancing age. 

In 1832 Deacon Andrews assisted in the organization of 
the Sunday School Union, embracing the Congregational 
Sunday Schools of New Britain, Newington, West Hartford, 
Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, Berlin and Kensington, and was 
appointed its first secretary, and for thirty-five successive 
years he filled that position with his characteristic zeal and 
enthusiasm. 

It is a remarkable fact that he was not absent from a 
meeting of the Union during the thirty-five years he served as 
secretary, and the succeeding eight years when he held the 



59 

office of vice-president. An historical sketch of the Union 
presented at its fiftieth anniversary in 1882 contains this just 
tribute to Deacon Andrews: 

"During this whole period of forty-four years he had been 
thoroughly identified with the work of the Union, and by his 
efficient efforts probably contributed more than any other man 
to its perpetuity and success." 

This devoted and beloved friend of our Sunday School 
died April 13th, 1876, and his funeral took place at the church 
the following Sunday afternoon. 

The Sunday School had provided a large crown of exquis- 
ite flowers, which was placed at the head of the casket as a 
token of its affectionate regard, and also as a fitting symbol 
of the nobly "finished course." 

If time and space permitted, it would be a pleasant task 
to record many personal reminiscences of the last forty years, 
and also to refer to the individual labors of all those who as 
officers or teachers, have contributed to the success and pros- 
perity of this school, and this church. 

Their influence upon the children and youth of the con- 
gregation cannot be measured. 

Many of these children have grown to be men and women, 
and in their mature years have become centers of influence and 
usefulness in this city or in other places where their lot has 
been cast, and on this anniversary of the mother church, they 
will gratefully recall the memories of their childhood, their 
connection with this Sunday School, and especially of their 
teachers, who with affectionate interest and loving care, sought 
to mould their young lives aright. 

The names of those who have served as superintendents 
of the Sunday School are as follows: 

David Whittlesey John N. Bartlett 

Alfred Andrews Charles Elliott Mitchell 

Chauncey Cornwall PYank L. Hungerford 

Henry L. Bidwell Edward H. Davison 

R. G. Williams Mervin C. Stanley 

John S. Whittlesey Chauncey B. Andrews 

David W. Whittlesey A. S. Hawkes 

Norman Hart James B. Thomson 

Roswell Hawley Morris C. Webster 

Dan. Clark Ruel H. Gray 

Charles Northend Edward G. Bradley 

Elliot B. Allen E. Clayton Goodwin 



60 

The organization of the Sunday School for the present 
year (1908) is as follows: 

General Superintendent, E. Clayton Goodwin. 

First Assistant Superintendent, R. H. Gray. 

Second Assistant Superintendent, Miss Addie T. Banister. 

Superintendent Primary Department, Miss Mary Whittle- 
sey; Assistant, Mrs. Wm. E. Parker; Secretary, Miss 
Clarissa E. Bentley; Pianist, Miss Alice Louise Booth. 

Treasurer, W. E. Ingham. 

Secretary, E. G. Bradley. 

Assistant Secretary and Treasurer, D. Clark Smith. 

Librarian, Lewis B. Gibson. 

Assistant Librarians, Geo. B. A. Baker, Thomas Quigley. 

Leader Teachers' Meeting, F. L. Hungerford. 

Home Department. Superintendent, Miss Mary Blake; 
Secretary, Miss Annie L. Bancroft; Treasurer, Miss 
Jenny L. Haugh. 

Executive Committee. The Pastor and General Superin- 
tendent, Miss Mary Whittlesey, E. G. Bradley, A. N. 
Lewis. 

Library Committee. C. S. Phelps, Lewis Gibson, Miss 
Mary Whittlesey, Rev. Henry W. Maier, Miss Addie 
T. Banister, Miss Helen W. Davison, F. G. Piatt. 

In reviewing the history of the Sunday School, we can 
but be strongly impressed with its steady growth and the 
constant progress in all its plans and methods. 

Its founders were simply endeavoring to enlarge their 
sphere of usefulness in a humble way, and were probably 
wholly unconscious of the moral grandeur of their enterprise, 
and its future growth and influence. 

It is therefore eminently fitting that we recall the past 
with deep gratitude and thanksgiving, while we also look 
forward to the coming years with great hope and confidence. 

These beautiful and commodious rooms which have been 
recently provided for the Sunday School, and which are 
unsurpassed in their convenience and complete equipment, 
wjll contribute greatly to its increasing usefulness and success. 

The advanced methods of imparting instruction and in 



61 

training the minds of children which are now employed in 
secular education, are becoming more and more prevalent 
in the biblical study and religious training of the Sunday School, 
and it may be confidently expected that the great Sunday School 
movement whose early history we have reviewed, will go for- 
ward with increasing strength and influence. 



Mr. Maier said: I have heard ministers say that they were living in 
the shadow of the men who preceded them. I wish to bear witness to the 
fact that I live in the sunshine of my predecessors. I feel that I have entered 
into their labors. 

Our interests have become world-wide, for the people from this church 
have gone to the ends of the earth. Our missionaries are in Africa and in 
Asia; some of the members of this church have moved far away; and one 
of its pastors had gone across the sea. We extended to him an invitation 
to return for this occasion, and the tie that bound him to the church was 
so strong that he responded to the invitation and has come this great dis- 
tance to be with us on this joyous occasion, and it gives me great pleasure 
to present to you that pastor of this church, the Rev. G. Henry Sandwell 
of the Leytonstone Congregational Church of London, England. 



ADDRESS OF REV. G. HENRY SANDWELL 

My dear Mr. Maier, and my dear friends and old parish- 
ioners: It would indeed be difficult for me to-night to express 
the joy with which I have crossed the Atlantic to attend the 
services of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of this 
church. You can well imagine that it would need a strong 
magnet to draw one so far across the bosom of the deep, and 
I know of only one magnet strong enough, and that is the mag- 
net of love. Impelled by that feeling and the desire to see 
my old friends again, I most joyfully accepted the invitation 
of this church and am indeed glad to be here to look into your 
faces again to-night. I take it that the exercises of to-day 
are designed not merely for mutual congratulation, but to 
suggest to us from the story of the past, incentives to present 
duty, and divine hopes for the years to come. Of one thing 
I think we may feel perfectly certain, and that is that the 
history of the past one hundred and fifty years goes to prove 
that the old First Church of New Britain has always been a 
live church, filled with spiritual power, and radiating divine 
and spiritual influences around it in this city in which it was 
placed. How do I know that? Well, there are certain signs, 
infallible signs, of a live church. A live church is always 
altruistic. It does not exist for itself, it does not exist simply 
to occupy its comfortable cushioned pews, to doze itself into 




Rkv. G. Hp;nrv Sandwki.i. 



63 

slumber Sunday after Sunday, to enjoy all the privileges of 
an equipment such as you possess in this building. A live 
church exists for others. It exists because it has accepted 
the great commission to preach the Gospel, to proclaim to 
the world the inexhaustible riches of Jesus Christ, and it is 
less concerned about its continuity, less concerned that it 
has existed one hundred and fifty years, less concerned about 
its dignity, than it is about its usefulness. That, I take it, 
is the first sign of a real live church. 

Then a live church always cares for the young. There are 
churches which have not cared for the young. They have been 
content to enjoy the privileges and blessings of the Gospel 
and in past years they often frowned upon the work of the 
Sunday School when that work was first started. But 
it was characteristic of this church that as soon as the 
Sunday School idea came into its possession it was carried 
into usefulness, and the first Sunday School in this state, I 
believe, was started in connection with this church. A live 
church always realizes that the Sunday School is the nursery 
of the church, the true resei'voir of its strength. 

Then a live church is a missionary church. I was pleased 
to hear this morning in that most admirable historical address 
of your pastor that this church has always been a missionary 
church. I do not think that a church has any right to exist 
that is not a missionary church. I do not understand the 
Christians who repudiate the commission "Go ye into all the 
world and preach the Gospel to every creature," and I cannot 
understand the consistency of Christian men and women who 
take all that God has given them and yet are indifferent to 
the heathen people who are about their very doors, and who 
hve in such darkness in foreign lands. This church has shown 
by its missionary spirit that it is a live church. 

Then a truly live church is always loyal to its Divine Lord. 
It is always loyal in claiming the supremacy of Jesus Christ 
as the Head of the Church, the Son of the living God, who came 
into the world to seek and to save the lost. I think this 
church in New Britain in all these particulars has proved 
itself to be very much alive. Our story of the past is one. I 
think, of which we may reasonably be proud. You note I 
say "our story," for in coming back to you I feel that I am 
at least for a little while one of you, and apart from that, I 
shall always feel that I am a member of this church, as I feel 



64 

myself to be a member of every true spiritual church of Jesus 
Christ. 

But if there is one thing more certain than another in 
this world, it is that no institution and no individual can live 
in or upon the past, whatever that past has been, however 
noble, however successful, however great its achievements. 
Some churches have tried the experiment of living in and upon 
the past,and what a wretched failure they have made of the task. 
Nothing in nature lives in the past. It is all present and all 
new; new sap, new leaves, new buds, new blossoms. Last 
year's leaves and flowers are dead and gone and are forgotten, 
and so are our deeds and our accomplishments, and it will 
be well for us to avoid the danger of thinking too much and 
of building too much upon the achievements of the last century 
and a half. Let us "forget the things which are behind and reach 
forth unto those things which are before." But to be able 
to use the present we must know something of its conditions 
and something of its circumstances. What is the condition 
of the Christian church to-day? I suppose the answer to 
that question would largely depend upon the general view that 
you would take of things. If you are a pessimist you would 
say that the condition of the Christian church was a gloomy 
one and that the former days were better than these, but if you 
are an optimist, I believe you would say that never was the 
Christian church in better form or better able to do the work 
that our Savior gave us to do than to-day. I am an optimist 
of the optimists, and I think the present days are better than 
they ever were before. It seems to me that the Christian 
church is just coming into her heritage, she is beginning to 
take in the true perspective. For example, she is learning 
at last that form is nothing, absolutely nothing; that the 
spirit is everything. She is learning that the life of her members 
is more important than their creed — important as their creed 
in certain respects may be. And she is learning that true 
religion is the immolation of self — living for others as Christ 
lived for others when He walked this earth. And moreover, 
the church is learning to-day that God's Fatherhood involves 
man's universal brotherhood, and that there is no man in the 
world, whatever his creed, his nationality, or his color, who is 
not our brother — a brother for whom Christ died. And then 
out of these divine truths of fatherhood and brotherhood has 
sprung the thought, that wonderful thought which has so 



66 

sweetened modern life, that God desires the happiness of man, 
that He is not a cruel judge seated upon a throne judging our 
every action, waiting to pounce upon us and punish us and 
at last cast us down into an endless perdition, but that he 
loves us and wants us to be happy ; not in that other world 
alone, but that He wants us to be happy here. The sour 
dreams of mediaevalism, thank God, are passing away. God 
is not pleased with the suppression but rather with the satis- 
faction of our human nature. The mother caring for her 
children, watching over the welfare of her home, the mother, 
not the cloistered nun, God loves to see, and it is upon the 
home and not upon the monastery that God's blessing rests 
to-day. Are j^ou prepared to take your part in this evangel, 
Brothers? To teach these great truths, to live them in your 
daily lives? If you are, then you may see your work. It 
is to preach and live the Gospel of God's love. It is to sanctify 
with the church's blessing the common lives of the people. It is 
to permeate with the Christ spirit the social, the political, and 
the intellectual life of the world until m.en "are brothers all, 
in a world of peace and love." It is a greater and broader 
work than our fathers ever dreamed of, for we live in a wider 
and a broader age. I try to think sometimes of what the 
future has in store for this world and for the church of Christ. 
And oh! I wish I were young enough to believe that I should 
see the fulfilment of my vision. Have you ever watched the 
sunrise upon a snow-clad Alpine range? I have, and it has 
always seemed to me to symbolize the coming of that golden 
day of emancipation and light which to my faith is dawning 
upon our world to-day. First the slender peaks alone are 
touched with the torch of fire, then slowly down the mountain 
slopes come the crimson and the gold, until at last the whole 
valley is bathed in the full splendor of the day. So must it 
be with our world. Our fathers saw only the light on the 
snowy summits. They did see it and we are glad. We have 
the fuller light and soon it will be high noon. We shall then 
have reached that "one far-off divine event, to which the whole 
creation moves." Oh, my brothers, never let faith in the 
future desert your minds. "The best is yet to be," says 
Browming, and it is in harmony with all the teachings of the 
Bible and with all the hopes of the human spirit. The best 
is yet to be. I am grateful for the past, but I am looking 
always to the future, and to you, members of this ancient and 



66 

honored church, I bring this word of hope and coui-age. Be- 
lieve in the future. Believe in the grandeur of your destiny, 
in the magnitude and splendor of the work that God has given 
you to do, and that God will help you to accomplish it. 

I thought yesterday as I stood by that boulder of granite, 
how much it symbolized the strength of the church of Jesus 
Christ. "Thou art Peter, the rock, and upon this rock will 
I build my church." The rock you have placed yonder sym- 
bolizes the strength with which he has endowed this church. 
It symbolizes the future, that while the world remains, this 
divine Gospel shall be in the mouth of your teachers and 
preachers, God's message to you, and God's call to live the 
higher and better life. In ancient times they used to call men 
to swear allegiance to kings or to some great cause, and those 
who were so consecrated were expected to be faithful and loyal 
unto death. Jesus Christ has called us unto the fellowship 
of this church. He has said, "Be ye faithful unto death and 
I will give you a crown of life." 

I call you to-night as I have often done before, to consecrate 
yourselves afresh to the service of humanity and the honor 
of your Lord. I call you to give yourselves, and I pray that 
this anniversary may be the signal for a new consecration to 
the service of man and to the worship of God in connection 
with this honored and holy sanctuary. 

Oh, who would not a Champion be, 
In this the lordlier chivalry ? 
Uprouse ye then, brave brother band, 
With honest heart and working hand. 
We are but few, toil-tried, but true, 
And hearts beat high to dare and do. 
Eyes full of heart-break with us plead, 
And watchers weep and martyrs bleed. 

We will, we will, brave champions be. 
In this, the lordlier Chivalry ! 



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Rev. John H. Denison, D.D. 



Mr. Maier said: Thirty-seven years ago there came a slender young 
man into this city to be pastor of this church. Thirty years ago he left, 
having given all of his strength into his services for this church. But the 
people have not let him go out of their affections or of their lives. More 
than half of this church probably never knew him as the minister of the 
church, and yet I venture to say that there is not a member of this church 
who has not been influenced by the ministry of the Rev. John H. Denison. 
D. D., of Williamstown, Mass. 

ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN H. DENISON, D. D. 

The pulpit seems somewhat of a strange place to me after 
these years of devotion to quiet study. In fact I feel as though I 
had got my hand somewhat out, as it were, of the business. 
But it is a great delight to look this church in the face again 
and to realize as I sat down to the communion table this 
morning, as I pressed the hands of Christian brothers and sis- 
ters afterwards, what a genuine, real thing it is that we share 
the life of Christ. Now this is a reminiscent occasion. It 
is as though God had spoken to us after the fashion in which 
He spoke to the Children of Israel, saying, "Look back; con- 
sider Abraham your father and the rock pit out of which you 
were digged." Yesterday we devoted some time to that 
consideration, and I should like to carry it a little further 
this day in a somewhat personal manner, for the thought 
of the Pilgrims or Puritans always deeply stirs my heart. I 
am myself, although perhaps unworthy of the name, a belated 
Puritan. It is true that I do not have in myself the blood 
or iron that my ancestor carried in his veins when he fought 
for liberty and for religion at Cromwell's side, but my 
heart is still on fire with the pulse-beat of the great Puritans 
that I came in contact with in my early life. They were strong 
men. They have been vividly pictured in the account that 
was given of them by your fellow-townsman when he presented 
the granite boulder. Perhaps the term rock pit would more 
fitly apply to them than to any other group of men of recent 
times. I am not sure that it would not better apply to them 
than to any group of religious men of any time, unless we except 



68 

the apostolic group. They were not men easily moved. There 
was about them something that environment could not con- 
quer. Nay, they were the conquerors of environment. The 
worst surroundings only brought out in them grander traits. 
Now there was a ground for this. There was about them 
that moral certitude which it seems to me alone can give the 
kind of steadiness, the immovable character, the lofty person- 
ality which can at all times face the worst and conquer it. 
What was this certitude based upon? I wish to present to 
you several characteristics that seem to me to lie at the bottom 
of this rock-like assurance of the Puritan character. 

The first was, as it seems to me, the demand for worship 
in the Puritan heart. He was a true child of the reformation 
in this respect. The people round about him, the people of 
the old church, looked on worship as an arbitrary thing, as 
a formal duty, an obligation to a master. With the Puritan 
it was far more than that. It was a live instinct. It was an 
organic necessity. To him, worship was an act of valuation, 
not a bowing down " of the head like the bulrush." It was an 
intelligent and voluntary act. It was an act of valuation, 
of supreme appraisal. He must know the greatest. "He 
needs must love the greatest when he knew the greatest." 
That seems to me to be the underlying fact about the Puritans. 
Now we find that sort of structural instinct in nature. He 
didn't get that from his theology. Get that out of your mind. 
Theology never gives men that tremendous guiding necessity 
for a thing which led our fathers to face the sea, the wilderness, 
the savages, that they might have freedom to worship. There 
is a kind of primal, organic instinct that knows its own path. 
The babe has it when it lifts up its new-born voice in an appeal 
to the mother heart. Tennyson has spoken of the babe as 
"An infant crying in the night: An infant crying for the light: 
And with no language but a cry." But he is wrong about 
one thing, — it is not crying for the light, it has a light sure and 
steadfast that lights every babe that comes into the world, 
a light that shows it what to do, and so it sends up its appeal 
and stretches out its little hand for its mother's breast. How 
does it know? It has a postulate of its own. God put that 
postulate there. So it is with the oak tree. Put the acorn 
into the ground and what does it do? Have you got to teach 
it what to do? Have you got to approach it with science, 
-demonstration, dogma, theory? No. It has an inner light. 



69 

Instantly it begins to put down its little rootlet and its tiny 
fibers that it may grasp the nutriment which it knows to be 
there. But that is not enough. No, it must toil sunward, 
for above the soil it knows there is a realm of light to which 
it must needs penetrate and in which it must live, and so it 
makes that upward push, that wondrous, that dead-right push 
up through the heavy mould against the obstacles round about, 
until at last it comes out into the sunlit air, under the dew and 
the rain in the upper world to which it belongs. Now that 
was the Puritan idea of worship. His strong virile nature did 
indeed take an intense, Anglo-Saxon grip on environment. 
Yet how small that matter of environment was to him rela- 
tively. To us environment is the whole thing. We speak as 
though if we could only get a man into the right surroundings 
and give him a bath he would be a Christian and a man forever. 
Well, to the Puritan that was nothing compared with the 
upward push, — the push for a supreme object of valuation, 
for a God whom he could love and glorify. To this tremendous 
necessity, the grasp on environment, important as it was, 
must needs be absolutely subordinated and put under foot, 
nay! even hated and scorned compared with that upward push 
for One whom he could love absolutely, to whose fatherly will 
and parental love he could give over soul and body and pos- 
sessions. That, I say, was the Puritan worship. That, and 
that only, was life to him. Not self-abnegation merely, but 
self-abnegation that he might find Him into whose arms he 
might give himself forever because those arms were Right- 
eousness and Love. That also was the Puritan faith. He 
put his grandest structural instinct to the test. He insisted 
on a religious experience as the one supreme necessity of life. 
Not only did he subordinate everything to this upward push, 
but through worship he found his God and thus describes 
Him. "God," he says, (and you must remember that this 
description is out of his worshiping experience) — "God," 
he says, "is a being infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in 
His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and 
truth." And as he clung to that God and glorified Him and 
rejoiced to be His servant, (it seems to me as I look back upon 
him) there came upon him some of that selfsame goodness, 
holiness, justice, unchangeableness and truth, and that that 
was what made him the rock quarry that he was. You may 
remember, too, a fact that we are prone to forget to-day, 



70 

that to the Puritan it was not merely essential that he must 
make the upward push, must make the great appraisal, must 
find the supreme object of valuation or all was lost, — you may 
remember that it was not only that, but that it was God or 
hell to him. Marcus Aurelius said that one of the things 
that he felt thankful for was that he had never been sent to 
a common school but had a private tutor. Now the common 
schools were not as good then as they are now. People con- 
gratulate themselves on very different things. You may 
think it singular, but I want to bear my testimony to one thing 
that the world scoffs at. I thank God that as a child I was 
brought up to face that great Puritan alternative, God or 
hell. I thank God that I was brought up to face the issues 
of eternity. This may not seem a "healthy minded" religion. 
It may appear a terrible thing for a young, sensitive child to 
be made to face, and I know very well that our Lord Jesus 
Christ put heaven first because. He being full of the Divine 
Spirit that shone out of His eye and went to His very finger 
tips in healing and in power, could present heaven first, and 
the powers of the world to come, but it has always seemed to 
me as I look back on it, that, taking things as they were then 
and are even now, if I had not been made to face that dread 
alternative as the Puritans had to face it, I would never have 
made that great upward push which I felt forced to make when 
I was only fourteen years old. Now of course I don't pretend 
to say that in the world of spirits there is a literal burning of 
fire and brimstone. No, that expression seems to me a symbol. 
Jesus describes it in the parable of the rich man as a horrible 
thirst caused by a selfish life — living for self. We talk of 
living for self, but we pass lightly over it as though it were a 
small affair after all. We don't take in its monstrous abnor- 
mality. I recall many years ago standing in one of the great 
galleries at Rome and alongside of me was a lady looking at 
one of the pictures (by Fra Angelico), of the tortures of hell, 
and she said to me, "How dare any man draw such a picture 
for his fellow men to look at?" But I said to her, "Well, I 
don't know; it depends upon what you imagine it to be a 
picture of. If it is a picture of selfishness it doesn't seem to 
me to be drawn too strong." Take all the serpents that hiss, 
the fangs that poison, the live coals that burn, the dragons 
that devour, — what are they to selfishness? Nothing in this 
world can save a soul from that hell but the surrender of self 



71 

to Him who is the soul's great object of love and who is the 
great Lover of the soul. 

Another characteristic of the Puritan, as it seems to me, 
was his view of the heart, of the human heart. The Puritan 
did not build his foundation upon his theology, that was 
merely his explanation. That was merely his philosophy of 
it. And often his philosophy appeared to carry him at the 
moment farther away from his faith. What the Puritan 
regarded and considered to be the organ by which he knew 
God and by which he realized the heavenly world was the 
heart. I was very much interested some time ago, as I suppose 
many of you may have been, to read a little book by the famous 
physician Dr. Osier, on immortality. Well, the doctor could 
find precious little proof of immortality. He worked away 
with science on the question, but he found very little to 
help him, because science is compounded of intellect and sense 
observation. Then he turned to the heart and he found some 
things about the heart. He said, in this age of the world it 
seems as though science reigns when we consider what it 
accomplishes, but when we get down to practical human lives 
it is the heart that reigns, because men are under the influence 
of prejudice and ignorance. So the heart controls. And I 
said as I read it, "so the heart controls." It is a strange thing 
that the intellect and senses should be the only reliable mechan- 
ism for knowing truth and yet we be made so that the heart 
controls. The fact is, however, that the heart controls not 
because of ignorance, not because of prejudice, but because 
the heart alone can value. The intellect cannot value any- 
thing. It cannot appraise, for it cannot feel. The heart 
alone values, because it only feels. And the Puritan was right 
when his instinct told him that the heart alone could find. The 
heart alone knows. Therefore the heart alone can know great 
literature. We cannot know the Bible by the intellect alone, 
we cannot know it by science; the Bible is great literature, and 
literature is life, it is human life, projected into words that 
live and bum with the fire of life. You cannot describe litera- 
ture by the intellect alone or describe humanity or life by 
intellect alone, and yet it is quite true that the human heart 
does deceive, does often deceive. Dr. Osier says that "with 
the heart man believes unto righteousness, and yet with the 
heart man believeth unto every possible vagary." Now the 
Puritan realized this, and the great thing he tried to reach in 



72 

the church was a change of heart, a purification of the emotional 
nature, by giving the heart to God in Christ, because the Lord 
Jesus Christ is a revelation of the heart of God pierced by 
man's sin. It is the revelation of the heart of God to the heart 
of man, and it is only as the heart of man is touched, touched 
by the humanized heart of God, that he is able to give himself 
up wholly and unreservedly to the will of God, and is free from 
all need of penalty or coercion. 

Now I have mentioned these points. There is one other 
point which I will mention briefly, and that is, the fact that 
the Puritan religion was a face to face life. Face to face with 
God. When Moses was leading the Children of Israel through 
the wilderness you may remember that there came to him a 
great crisis. He began to realize that he must get nearer to 
God again, that he must come again face to face with God 
upon the Mount. Yet it was a critical time. Could he leave? 
Could he take the risk? It was perilous. Would not Israel 
if abandoned by him even for a brief period relapse helplessly 
into idolatry? But he saw that he must take the risk. Forty 
days he remained with God upon the Mount, till his soul was 
filled with the Divine love. Then he came down, and as he 
came down Israel was worshiping the golden calf. You 
recall that in his grand despair he dashed in pieces the tables 
of stone that had been given him on the Mount as if to say, 
"What is the use of law, what is the use of religion, unless one 
is face to face with God," and then you recall that he took the 
tabernacle, placed it in the camp where everyone could see 
it, and then he entered into it. He had made up his mind 
that his face to face communion with God had got to be taken 
down from the Mount to human life. And you recall how as 
the tent stood there the cloud of God's presence hovered over it 
and whosoever sought the Lord entered the tent. And Moses 
talked with God face to face as with a friend. That is the 
primal cell of spiritual life. Some one said of a certain great 
instructor that a college education consisted of having him 
at one end of a log and the student at the other. Let me say 
that religion, however it may be expanded, religion at its heart 
must always consist of a man who has come down from the 
Mount carrying God's glory in his heart, talking with him face 
to face as with a friend, and a true church is a group of men 
gathered about such a friend of God and sharing his life. That 
is the primal cell of spiritual life, and, dear friends, I say what- 



73 

ever form the religion of the future may take, unless it has in 
it this primal cell, this face to face religion, that shares the 
life of God, it will be a dead cell. There will come out of it 
no red corpuscles to vitalize humanity. 



Mr. Maier said: I was told before I came to this church that I was 
coming to follow a noble band of ministers. I believed it then. I believe 
it more to-night. I was told that I was coming to a church where pulpit 
orators were well-known; where men of deep spiritual experiences had brok- 
en to the people the bread of life. I acknowledge it discouraged me some, 
but through the kindness of the people they have endured. I have the 
pleasure now of introducing to you one of the strong pulpit orators that 
this church has had, one of the strongest that she has had in the one 
hundred and fifty years of her experience — the Rev. William Burnet 
Wright, D. D., of Buffalo, N. Y. 

ADDRESS OF REV. WILLIAM BURNET WRIGHT, D. D. 

Admiration of excellence is the only cord that can draw 
men together to commemorate past events. They often com- 
bine to do vile things; never to celebrate them. We have 
been as diligent in forgetting March 12, 1846 and what our 
fathers did that day to little Mexico, as in remembering July 
4th, 1776 and what our forefathers did that day to Great 
Britain, Twenty-five members of the present Senate of New 
York, acting in the interest and at the instigation of notorious 
gamblers, recently united to undermine the constitution they 
had sworn to uphold; to thwart the will of the constituents 
they were elected to represent, and to perpetuate an infamy 
which for thirteen years has disgraced the state whose honor 
ought to be to them more precious than life. This the twenty- 
five united to do. 

But if, one hundred and fifty years, or months or even 
weeks from now, the twenty-five or their descendants shall 
be invited to come together and celebrate that event, it will 
be found, I think, that every one of them has bought a piece 
of ground, or five yoke of oxen, or married a wife, if indeed 
any one of them shall be able to find a woman that will have 
him, which my respect for the sex forces me to believe exceed- 
ingly doubtful. Base motives can make men do what they 
know to be dastardly. It cannot make them enjoy reflecting 
upon it. 

Now admiration of excellence is the foundation of all 
worthy character. Without it worship of God is pharisaism; 




Rk\. William Blknkt Wkk^.ht, D.D. 



75 

religion a pretense. Such admiration has drawn us together 
to-night, and we are already better men and women for having 
yielded to its influence. But I would have you also observe 
that this virtue, genuine admiration for real worth, is precisely 
the virtue most needed and rarest in our country to-day. 
Admiration of wealth, however won, has been common. It 
has corrupted the ballot, made the giving and taking of bribes 
in municipalities and legislatures facile, and set a dangerous 
standard for young men in active life. Integrity in homespun 
is less frequently invited to the feasts of our rulers and receives 
fewer greetings in the market places than expediency in broad- 
cloth, and what the worshipers of mammon call "national 
prosperity" is the deity still most adored. In short, we have 
gone a considerable distance on the broad road along which 
wealthy nations before us have reached destruction. But 
these last years God has interfered to check the downward 
course. He has sent us a few men, most of them young, who 
stand in political affairs like Gibraltar for righteousness. In 
most of our cities and states they shine as stars in a dark night. 
The politicians who manipulate elections do not understand 
them. They can understand no one who regards office as a 
trust and not a perquisite; who will not dicker and cannot be 
bribed or fooled or scared. They mock therefore at these 
regenerators as others of their breed wagged their heads at 
Christ. 

The God-inspired men are relatively few. The number 
of the other kind is appallingly large. As recent events in 
New York City and State, in St. Louis, in San Francisco, have 
shown, the effectiveness of the good men depends upon the 
degree in which admiration impels the rest of us to strengthen 
their hands. The extent to which that is done by the rank 
and file of us will decide whether our institutions shall with- 
stand the storm that threatens them or go down as a house 
built upon the sand. 

Now every one attending this convention is here because 
he admires in the founders of this church those qualities which 
God is calling us all to admire, imitate and re-enforce by our 
co-operation, in the leaders he has sent us this April, 1908. 
I say the qualities shown by the founders of this church, for 
this church you will remember was once New Britain. The 
impulses which have made your city beautiful and strong 
came from those men of God whose first sacraments we have 



76 

assembled to commemorate. Of all cities I have known or 
heard of, New Britain seems to me the most accurate repre- 
sentative of the genius of New England. By the genius of 
New England I mean the quality which has made her with her 
sterile soil what New England is; while the lack of it has made 
South America with her immense fertility and her mines of 
silver, gold, and rubies, what South America is. Why the 
creators of New Britain settled here I do not know. I think, 
and the more I think the surer I am the thought is true, that 
God brought them hither to raise a monument proclaiming 
to posterity that what makes prosperity in communities is 
not favorable circumstances but true men. There were here 
none of those natural advantages which are generally held 
essential to the growth of cities. The surrounding soil was 
not specially fertile. Rather the reverse. There was no 
water to turn factory wheels, and that was the only motive 
power then known. The location was outside the lines of 
travel and transportation. There was nothing to make New 
Britain what it is except the quality of the men who made it, 
yet to-day New Britain is eminent for the beauty and the 
comfort of her homes, her churches, and her shops; for the 
culture, refinement, and contentment of her citizens; while in 
the magnitude of her factories, the excellence of their products — 
for I have never heard that any shoddy was weaved, I mean 
mashed, in New Britain — and above all, in the high character 
of her operatives, she is pre-eminent. 

Now, lest some thoughtless hearer might fancy that I 
speak thus to flatter you, I pause to remind you that you did 
not choose your ancestors. "Noblesse oblige." But it is not 
a soothing syrup. It is a fiery stimulant. I speak the truth 
about your ancestors only to provoke you still further to love 
and good works. 

What manner of men the founders of this church were was 
adequately outlined in the few terse but comprehensive sen- 
tences of Mr. Mitchell yesterday afternoon. The outline was 
filled in truthfully, exhaustively and with rare felicity of 
phrase by your pastor this morning. Of all the facts 
they told us no one impressed me more as an index 
of character than this. Those founders lived in mutual 
respect and unbroken confidence with their first pastor 
for- fifty years. He had none of those graces which 
attract the thoughtless. His speech was unadorned. His 



77 

manner severe. But he was a profound student, an inde- 
pendent thinker, a devout Christian. Upon the most impor- 
tant matter which occurred during his ministry, a matter 
which agitated his people no less profoundly than slavery excited 
us sixty years ago, he differed from the members of his church. 
That such a man retained for fifty years their reverence and 
affection so tenaciously that when the infirmities of age com- 
pelled his resignation they refused to accept it, shows the 
sturdy manhood, the spiritual brawn and sinew of those to 
whom he ministered; shows that they were men who cared 
supremely for conscience, brains and resolute will in the 
enforcement of what he believed right; and little for anything 
else; shows that they were wise men who could diflfer without 
passion and respect in others the liberty they demanded for 
themselves. That is characteristic of this church as far as 
I have known it. I believe I was the only man in New Britain 
who believed absolutely and to the ground in free trade, and 
some of you may remember that I have not the habit of hold- 
ing my tongue about things I believe strenuously, but I never 
had the slightest sign (I think some of you thought me in 
this at least one of those bipeds whose name begins with "g," 
but nobody ever said so) of censure. 

Dr. Smalley is reported to have said: "If you wish for a 
revival preach the law; if your revival begins to wane, preach 
the law; if you wish to secure sound conversions, preach the 
law." This was only a repetition of the charge given by the 
Master to the young man who asked what he should do to 
inherit eternal life: "Keep the commandments." That is, 
do right. 

This was the salt of Dr. Smalley 's preaching; and omitting 
to preach that way, preaching as if Christianity were a device 
to substitute creed for conduct, has been the bane of New 
England theology and the weakness of the churches in their 
grapple with the world. Dr. Smalley's kind of preaching 
was welcomed by the founders of this church, and it strength- 
ened them for the great task God called them to accomplish. 

The second benefit from an occasion like this is that it 
teaches us to weigh more carefully and estimate more cor- 
rectly the relative values of current events. It guards us 
from the fear of colossal phantoms and the neglect of small 
substances. 



78 

The seeming trifles of to-day often become the marvels 
of to-morrow. The mountain that limits om* horizon as we 
rush by it in the fast express of time dwindles into a mole hill 
behind us. But when on a day like this we pause and the 
mind's eye looks back, often some mole hill unnoticed before 
has swelled into a mountain. The gaze fixed upon the great 
image of gold and silver and brass and iron, wrought by skil- 
ful hands, overlooked the pebble fallen "without hands" from 
the hill, until the pebble smote the colossus into dust and 
itself became a great mountain. The fatal error which has 
ruined so many men and nations threatens us also. It is the 
error of mistaking mushrooms for oak trees; of thinking Con- 
stantine's diadem of pearls makes him mightier than the 
Messiah crowned with thorns; of fancying that Caesar's legions, 
Phillip's Armada, or Mr. Rockefeller's millions vociferating 
"To my possessor all power on earth is given," speak truth, 
while He who having triumphed in the cross declared: "To 
Me all power on earth has been given," was mistaken. 

It is impossible for most men, it is almost impossible 
for any man, to escape the clutch of that blunder while he 
looks at the present and sees the wicked in great power spread- 
ing himself like a green bay tree. But when one has passed 
by and looks back over the space of one hundred and fifty years 
only a fool can fail to see how false and ruinous the error is. 

Yet it is perhaps the most threatening peril of our time. 
Therefore I remind you that in 1758 the eyes of the whole 
world were riveted upon Frederick the Great. In January 
of that year Whitefield appointed a day of thanksgiving for 
the victories of the Prussian king. It was observed with great 
enthusiasm in the famous church on Tottenham Court Road. 
The joy was not confined to religious people. On Frederick's 
birthday, the same month, London was illuminated. Bonfires 
flamed in the streets. Demonstrations of joy were general 
throughout England, and were consummated in April of the 
year by the treaty of alliance with the Prussian king. White- 
field and the many he represented thought him a leader divinely 
appointed to end the power of the papacy in which the protes- 
tant bigotry of that day saw only the scarlet woman and the 
beast with many horns. The populace thought him a hero 
who by humbling France would free them from those appre- 
hensions which had tormented them and their ancestors for 



79 

centuries. Frederick was the mightiest man in the world and 
he was their friend. 

Fifty years passed. In 1804 every vestige of the Great 
Frederick had disappeared as a tale written on water. Two 
years later even the invincible army bequeathed him by his 
father vanished like a soap bubble before the touch of Napoleon 
at Jena. Prussia became practically a vassal of France. Eng- 
land was mastered by a dread of her ancient enemy gi*eater 
than she had ever felt before. The pope was raised to an 
appearance of grandeur more magnificent than any wearer 
of the triple crown had enjoyed, for Napoleon, now in all but 
name king of the kings of Europe, recognized the supremacy 
of the Holy See over all earthly majesties, by receiving from 
the pope the imperial crown. 

That coronation was the most splendid function Europe 
had ever beheld. When it was over the Emperor declared 
that the crown of France would rest upon his head and the 
heads of his representatives to countless generations. In 
a few years the cords he had twisted were untwined, all that 
he had done was undone, and he was whining at St. Helena. 

All the initiatives of the great Frederick came to naught 
in less than fifty years. All those of the greater Napoleon, 
blazoned in a ceremony that fixed the eyes of the whole world 
upon it, in eleven years were shown to be eggs that would not 
hatch. 

But — in 1758 while the world was watching Frederick, 
this church was born. "No cymbals clashed, no clarions 
rang." The great world knew nothing of it, and had it known 
would have cared nothing about it. Yet the beneficent efi"ects 
of that obscure event which surround us to-day were in com- 
parison with the victories of Frederick or the coronation of 
Napoleon as the pebble to the image of Daniel's vision. 

Nathaniel Emmons was the controlling editor of that 
magazine which ripened into the Missionary Herald. He 
launched it on its beneficent career. Who can estimate the 
good accomplished and yet to be accompli.shed by that publi- 
cation through the multifarious activities it has caused and 
kept in operation? Let him reply who can estimate for weight 
of influence all Caesar's victories as compared with that 
single chapter of Isaiah, read to us this morning; chapter 
which stimulated Cromwell and his Ironsides in their victory 
for Anglo Saxon deliverance; which has made Bunyan strong 



80 

and which stimulated slaves into free men. Nathaniel Emmons 
was one of the first and mightiest of that small company who 
placed on moral grounds the opposition to slavery. Slavery 
had already been fought on grounds of expediency. That 
battle it won. But when by Emmons leading a few associates 
it was attacked by weapons not of this world, the conflict 
continued till it was decided the other way. 

Nathaniel Emmons was one of the heroic few who first 
protested effectively against that conception of God once held 
throughout New England; the view expressed by Michael 
Wigglesworth in a poem which for a time enjoyed a popularity 
greater than any other American writer, before Mrs. Stowe, 
obtained; the poem which described the redeemed gloating 
over the torments of lost souls and Christ himself telling the 
infants who pleaded with Him to take them out of the burning 
lake, that they must stay there because it was for the glory 
of God. Similar opinions were held by Nathaniel Emmons 
until Dr. Smalley convinced him they were false. It was from 
the study of this church that he went forth to be one of the 
first in time and one of the first in effectiveness among those 
who tore the veil of horror from the face of God and unveiled 
the features of the Father we adore. 

There can be little doubt that the influence of his year 
in that same study of this church can be traced in the 
large and indomitable love of justice, the devout piety, the 
religious enthusiasm, which to his dying day distinguished 
the man who secured against all the powers of Jefferson the 
form of our Federal Government which time has shown to be 
essential to its permanence; that man whom Washington 
selected for our first Chief Justice; that man whose watchful 
integrity restored the financial credit of the government and 
made men call him "the Cerberus of the Treasury ;"that man 
whom John Adams described as "the pillar of Washington's 
whole administration;" the man who was perhaps the most 
illustrious of the many illustrious citizens who have made 
Connecticut as large in influence as she is small in territory — 
Oliver Ellsworth. 

Nor is it too much to assume that the instructions and 
unconscious influence of the study in this church had an 
appreciable effect in moulding the character of Jeremiah Mason 
into the form which made him the acknowledged leader of 



81 

the Suffolk Bar at a time when Rufus Choate and Daniel 
Webster belonged to it. 

In comparison with facts like these the things the world 
was staring at in 1758 and 1804 seem trivial, and the things 
done here between those dates seem great. 

It may be that the little money given by inconspicuous 
hands to Booker Washington and Dr. Frissell will do more 
for the peace and safety of our country in all coming time than 
the many millions spent in ironclads. 

But once more. The records of the past are prophesies 
of the future. Rightly used they are the safeguards of the 
present. Next to honesty of purpose, the thing most important 
for American voters and legislators to possess is acquaintance 
with history. It is also the thing they most lack. The vast 
majority of our voters and a majority of our legislators desire 
honestly the public good. The trouble is we do not know how 
to secure it. If we all had studied carefully Bryce, Gibbon, and 
the historic books of the Bible, we should have few unwise 
laws and no pernicious ones. For no question of public impor- 
tance has arisen in our country since the Boston Tea Party 
or before it, the right settlement of which did not depend upon 
principles clearly expressed and illustrated by abundant 
examples in the history of Israel; principles which have been 
less clearly expressed but still more abundantly illustrated 
in the experience of Greece, Rome, Mediaeval and Modem 
Europe. 

I have tasted the same food which Moses ate; because 
grains preserved for milleniums in the wrappings of a mummy, 
when planted a few years ago in a Massachusetts garden bore 
the same fruit which similar seeds produced on the banks of 
the Nile for the table of Pharoah's daughter. I have felt the 
wrath that made Moses break the tables on which God's 
finger had written, because the same seeds produce always 
the same fruits, whether they be sown in the earth or in human 
hearts. 

The worship of selfish luxury and sordid powers with 
consecration to the means of attaining them, brings forth iden- 
tical results whether the altar be raised on the sands of Sinai 
or the pavement of Wall Street; whether the idol be frankly 
confessed as a golden calf or its worshipers cheat themselves 
by calling it "National Prosperity;" whether as they sit down 
to eat and drink or rise up to play before it, they shout in 



82 

Hebrew or declare by actions that speak louder than words: 
"These be thy Gods that brought thee up out of the land of 
Egypt." That cry could have been uttered in Arabia by those 
only who had forgotten what God it was who enslaved them 
on the Nile; what God it was who parted the sea for their 
deliverance and made heavy the chariot wheels of the oppressors 
who pursued them. 

That cry — that national prosperity consists in the abun- 
dance of things to eat and drink and wear and brag about — 
can be re-echoed by those only who forget that the quest for 
gold produced Guatemala and Yucatan, while the flight from 
gold and all that gold stands for brought forth New England. 
It was men who turned their backs upon every one of those 
things which we are told to-day constitute "National Prosper- 
ity" in order to seek for something better than those who tell us 
that can ask or think, and to seek it under the leadership of 
Him who had not where to lay His head, — it was those men 
who created New England. It was those same men, reproduced 
in their children, who founded and created this church and 
this city. 

What other sermon then could be so effective in re-enforc- 
ing and guiding wisely that patriotism for which New Britain 
has always been distinguished as the sermon preached by the 
one hundred and fifty years we have assembled to commem- 
orate? What other teacher could point out so directly and 
so impressively the things required of us by the conditions 
of to-day or move us so potently to move forward in that 
line of devout and Godly patriotism to which stones in yonder 
cemetery are pointing our young men to-day? 



Monday 



An interesting feature of the day's exercises was the his- 
torical exhibit in the church chapel. The articles were labeled 
and the committee in charge gave interesting information in 
regard to them. Some of the relics exhibited were: 

Dr. Smalley's large family Bible. 

Silhouettes of Dr. and Mrs. Smalley. 

Silver knee buckles belonging to Dr. Smalley. 

Silver teaspoon marked S. S. (Sarah Smalley) and one 
marked S. G. (Sarah Guernsey) belonging to 
Mrs. Smalley. 

Locket containing pictui'e of David Whittlesey, who 
was first superintendent of the Sunday School. 

A pamphlet containing history, rules, confession of 
faith and covenant of the First Congregational 
Church in New Britain, with catalogue of mem- 
bers, January, 1844. 

Dr. Smalley's old pipe box, which hung in his hall 
for the use of ministerial friends who came to 
see him. 

Several sermons written by Dr. Smalley and a num- 
ber of books from his library. 

An old footstove. 

Base viol played by Eri Judd in the Old North Church. 

Trombone played by Henry Gladden in Old North 
Church and in the First Church. 

Base viol played by Oliver Judd in the Old North 
Church and in the First Church. 

The exercises of the day included an organ recital given 
in the afternoon by Organist Howard E. Brewer, followed by 
a reception to the former pastors of the church (Rev. Dr. John 
H. Denison, Rev. Dr. William B. Wright and the Rev. G. 
Henry Sand well, the only ex-pastors of the church now living), 
their families and other invited guests. A large number of 
former members of the church were present. From 6.30 p. m. 
to 7.30 p. m. refreshments were served, and at 8 p. m. the 
closing exercises of this memorable occasion were held. 



Mr. Maier said: The deacons have played their part in this great 
celebration of ours, as deacons usually do, with hard work which has not 
shown on the surface. But our deacons are to be represented to-night 
in a son of one of them who is a son of this church and of whom we are all 
proud. Less than a year ago he came from Japan, and I feel quite certain 
that he came at the time he did so that he might be here for this occasion. 
No anniversary would be complete that did not have a poem, and our 
representative of the deacons, the son of Deacon Walter, is to read us a 
poem on this occasion. We will now listen to that poem, by Mr. Howard 
Arnold Walter, a middler in Hartford Theological Seminary, a eon of 
this church. 

POEM OF MR. HOWARD ARNOLD WALTER 

I feel peculiarly grateful for the opportunity that is 
accorded me to speak from this pulpit for the first time on 
this occasion. I speak not only, as Mr. Maier has said, as a 
son of the church, but also as a great-great-great-great- 
great-great-grandson of the church, even to the seventh gen- 
eration. Before this pulpit I was baptized by Dr. Burroughs; 
I received the Bible of the church from the hand of Dr. Wright; 
I was received into membership by Dr. Hall, and, during the 
past week, in a Congregational association of which the pres- 
ent pastor was acting as moderator, I was licensed to preach 
the Gospel; so that I think there can be no one in this church 
to-day of my own generation who feels bound to it by more 
or closer ties than L 

I have been asked to write a poem for this occasion, and 
I have done so not unwillingly, with the thought that it may 
prove a fitting background, by way of contrast, for the good 
things in prose which we are to have through the remainder 
of the evening. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY POEM 

I 

My friends, at this memorial tide, 

From out the busy grind and roar 

Of earth, that deepens evermore, 
A little space we turn aside. 



86 



There breaks upon our fevered ways 

A breathing pause, a backward look, 
By relic hoar and musty book, 

To modes and men of other days. 

There slowly swims within our ken 

Scene after scene, stage after stage 
Of life, where stirs from age to age 

The pure desires of Godly men. 

Our nation out of war was born, 

Where swelled aloft fair Freedom's strains; 

Our land was born anew when chains 
Were loosened that had long been worn. 

Our nation grew in sinewy strife. 

Age ripening from impetuous youth — 
And ever hath the church of truth 

Been interwoven with its life. 

The church and state are close allied 

In bonds than human laws more sure. 
That nation which would long endure 

The prophets of the Lord must guide. 

I turn the pages of the past. 

Swift-moving pictures flutter by 
Where church and state and city lie 

Enfolded into union fast. 



II 

One night of dreams I seemed to live again 

In days gone by when hearts of maids andtmen 

Were fired with thoughts of freedom in a strife 

Which well they knew might cost a nation's life. 

And sink it into tyranny more dread 

Than that which now their flaming ardour fed. 

The stirring days of '75 had come: 

The streets resounded with the fife and drum 

In old New Britain town. The patriot band 

With many a breeze of liberty was fanned. 

Now news of outrage filled their minds with fight: 

Now word of war impending — with delight. 

Within the church I sat, that day of days. 

When, at the close of preaching, prayer and praise, 

The aged Colonel Lee stood by the side 

Of the young Captain Stanley while he cried 

To all who loved their land and knew no fear 

Upon parade next morning to appear. 



87 



Then was there hubbub: some who felt the thrill 
Of freedom gathering round their friends who still 
Would see grim war averted. Thru the throng 
There strode a man, commanding, spare and strong, 
Protecting pastor of this fold of God. 
For twenty years those boards his feet had trod; 
For twenty years those walls his voice had filled. 
The tumult, with his coming, sudden .stilled — 
These words of pained surpri.se they heard him fling 
Into their midst: "What, will ye fight your king?" 
Then reverence was forgotten in the shout 
That put all thoughts of sordid peace to rout. 
The conflict came and closed: and when 'twas o'er, 
The glorious victory none welcomed more 
Than Parson Smalley now on Freedom's side. 
Well might the town confess an honest pride 
When back returned to her the war-scarred brave, 
Surviving still those other lads who gave 
Their lives, their all, by liberty outweighed. 
The nation's flag with stars that would not fade 
Was studded by their strife. Now war was done 
And peace for progress and for rest was won. 



Ill 

Then was there glad release from harsh contention. 
Men turned from noisy strife to quiet toil; 

And in the East they triumphed in invention. 
And in the West they tilled the virgin soil. 

Now in my dream I saw Old Time unravel 

Mysterious forces that creation fill; 
Upon the earth, unwonted speed of travel, 

On the electric air, man's voice athrill. 

Swept forward by expansion's wave resistless. 

Behold New Britain to a city grown. 
No place within its gates for laggards listless. 

Idlers within its precincts all unknown. 

Those were the days of men of mighty spirit, 

Whose sterling worth and quenchless power shone forth; 

How many an honored name our sons inherit — 
A Stanley or a Landers or a North! 

And with the city's growth, the church expanded. 

Despite division when a part withdrew 
In peaceful disagreement, and were banded 

Into a daughter church that swiftly grew. 



88 



Those men who for the city's life were spending 
Their utmost efforts through the busy week, 

Upon the Sabbath day their way were wending 
Unto the church, the Spirit's strength to seek. 

And when at length their humbler House of Meeting 
Gave place to this we proudly call our own, 

The splendid cycle of the past completing — 

Their sons came forth to reap what they had sown. 



IV 

A hundred years had passed away, 

In storm or stillness, since the day 

The old First Church was formed, and lo 

'Twas deemed of right the town should know 

The church's history how great. 

This month of April, '58. 

Unto the church there came that day 

Of citizens a great array, 

To celebrate the hundredth year 

From when the church was founded here. 

The first to speak, of great renown. 

Beyond the confines of the town. 

And of the land — beyond the seas — 

A gentleman whose manners please. 

An orator whose words have weight, 

A scholar learned, an advocate 

Of world-wide peace in every land, 

Elihu Burritt took the stand 

And sketched from out his deep research 

The early history of the church — 

Showing the customs, deeds and ways. 

And worship, of the olden days. 

Following him the next to rise, 

A man of business, keen and wise, 

Was Noah Stanley, who extolled 

The manners and the men of old. 

And after him, last of the three. 

Was Reverend David Whittlesey. 

At even-time again they came; 

The pastor, of the worthy name 

Of Perrin, in historic vein. 

Wooed back the minds of all again 

To view the ancient church's rise 

And progress to its present size. 

The evening o'er, they homeward walked. 

And proudly of that history talked. 



89 



You have met within the portals of this ancient church to-day, 

Now a hundred years and fifty have appeared and passed away. 

You have heard the storied annals of the generations gone, 

You have scanned the teeming pages that their lives have writ upon. 

You have seen the stir and tumult, all the travail of the birth 

Of the nation that is fairest of the fair upon the earth. 

You have watched the nation's progress, followed its enlarging life; 

Felt the fragrant peace and quiet that is won by stalwart strife. 

Have you heard beneath the plaintive, jangling strains of want and wrong 

Sounding chords of truth triumphant swelling in an endless song? 

In each town and heath and hamlet that is reaching toward the right 

There's a silent steeple rising upward, Godward, thru the night: 

Finger of rebuke and warning, or of hope and joys that wait; 

Men have seen its sign and trembled, shrinking from a purchased fate. 

In the sight of that stern sentry pointing skyward from the earth 

Men have found a still reminder of the things of greater worth. 

So the church has proved its birthright, standing for the truth of God, 

Moving onward in the footsteps where the feet of Jesus trod. 

And the hope of all the future in the ages yet unborn. 

Till the night of death be swallowed in the Resurrection morn, 

Is the church that God hath fashioned and that men of God have filled. 

We her sons w^ll follow forward in the paths which he has willed. 

Burdened with the cross of Jesus, burning with His holy zeal, 

Till the hour when earthly monarchs underneath His sceptre kneel; 

When the humblest sit the highest and the proud have learned to love — 

All the world bowed low in worship round the throne of God above. 



^;"Mr. Maier said: I am glad to have here with me on the platform 
to-night three of the sons of the church who are in the ministry, or are 
preparing for the ministry, or have had a part in it. I am very glad to 
have two of them to disprove an old fallacy about ministers' sons, and I 
wish I might say deacons' daughters. We are going to hear from the sons 
of this church, those who were boys here in the Sunday School and who 
sat in the pews, uneasy perhaps, while the preaching was going on. Min- 
isters' sons do that sometimes. The first one who is to bring us a message 
is the son of one who was here when many of the prominent members of 
this church came into this city. Dr. Perrin made a great impression on 
young men who came to make their home in this city. I am very glad 
to turn you over to Prof. Bernadotte Perrin, of Yale University. 



ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR BERNADOTTE PERRIN 

My reminiscences of New Britain all cluster around that 
grand decade of 1860-70, the period of our great Civil War, 
I came here in 1858, a fresh country boy from the Litchfield 
hills, and everything in the New Britain of that time which 
would seem to you now, in these advanced days, primitive 
and simple, struck me as colossal and magnificent! This 
church, even now a noble "meeting-house," was then even 
more impressive, because the era of church architecture in 
New Britain had not then set in. The church was new, fresh, 
sweet, simple and pure in its lines, and as an auditorium unex- 
celled. 

I remember distinctly my impressions as a boy on coming 
to a Sunday morning service, and seeing Mr. William A. 
Churchill, to whom more than to any other one man, perhaps, 
we owed the beautiful edifice, visiting all parts of the building 
to see that everything was in its most perfect shape; adjusting 
the blinds to keep out the sun; watching the temperature, 
and seeing that nothing was neglected which could conduce 
to the comfort of the worshipers. His beautiful house further 
down the street then struck me as an abode worthy of the 
Count of Monte Cristo, and its cupola! That impressed a 
country boy as something of which only the greatest of the 
earth could be worthy. Some of my dearest remembrances 



91 

connect themselves with the old Churchill place and its lovely 
grounds. 

But I must pass hastily from the time of my first impres- 
sions to the period when the great war pressed its claims upon 
us, and when the young men whom I had been wont to look 
up to and admire in what served perhaps as our club, — the 
shoe store of Chester Booth, — passed one after another out 
from this simple and careless life of ours into the strenuous 
and stormy life of the soldier's service. And then the tidings 
that came back to us from camps, hospitals and battle-fields! 
How well I remember the joyful pride or the pains and agonies 
which they spread among the people of this parish! 

I was called upon a year or two ago to give a Memorial 
Day address in a town near New Haven, and was casting about 
for some fitting remarks to make on that occasion, when I 
came upon a generous package of letters in an old trunk of 
my father's, neatly tied, and labeled "From my Boys in Blue." 
I read those letters, and got from them the inspiration that I 
wanted. They were letters from members of his congregation 
who were scattered all over the country in their country's 
service, to their pastor, who sought to keep in close touch with 
them and to keep them in touch with "the things of the King- 
dom." One would write from New Orleans, one from Charles- 
ton, and one from the Army of the Potomac, and I had known 
and remembered them all, and looked up to them as grown-up 
young men when I was but a boy. They told their stories of 
hardships, victories, defeats; of temptations overcome or 
overcoming; of social problems to be solved of which they had 
not the faintest conception when they left this little borough 
here. They told of their longings for home and kindred and 
for the ways of the old, delightful peace. But still the one 
dominant note in all the letters was: "The old flag must be 
saved from dishonor, and the cause of the Union carried to 
triumph, no matter what pains and sacrifices are demanded of 
us." These easy-going young men had been transformed into 
heroes. 

And then I remember that even as a boy I wondered at 
that spectacle at which all the world wondered, when that 
army of more than a million men came back to their homes 
and scattered into the vocations of peace. Our warriors came 
back, though alas! not all! and without a ripple of excitement 
this little community saw its martial heroes pass from soldiers 



92 

to citizens again, as though there were no other vocation than 
that of peaceful citizenship. 

One scene from that long struggle is indelibly fixed in my 
memory. It was the Friday morning when the news came to 
this place of the assassination of Lincoln, and I saw Mr. Fred- 
erick T. Stanley turn into Washington Street and come slowly 
down to our gate on his way home. He brought the dreadful 
tidings to my father, and I, a boy, saw those two strong men 
weep like women. It seemed to them that the cause was 
lost, that there could be no more hope or light if Lincoln was 
gone. And then I well remember the courage born of despair 
with which my father prepared to face his congregation on 
the following Sunday morning. That was Friday morning, 
and by Sunday morning he must have a message for his people 
appropriate to the overwhelming calamity which had fallen 
upon them. He saw no sleep Friday night, no sleep Saturday 
night; through both nights the light was burning in his little 
study, where, I doubt not, there was wrestling with God in 
prayer. But on Sunday morning the notes of his message 
to his people rang out clear and strong. They were the old 
notes, so familiar in strong men who have learned to submit 
their ways to God. "God reigneth, God reigneth, put your 
trust in God." 

Memories rush upon me. Even the fifty minutes jocosely 
given me by your pastor would not suffice me, and the ten 
minutes which I promised him not to exceed are gone. And 
yet there is one memory to which I must allude, if I can, and 
that is of the loving devotion which this community paid to 
their memories of my father and mother, when their ashes 
were carried from before this pulpit to their last resting place 
in yonder Fair View Cemetery. That will always be one of 
the most precious memories of my life, and the notes of the 
sweet music which, even on that bitter winter's day, sounded 
out over their new-made graves, still linger in my ears, and 
will linger till death seals my ears. 



Mr. Maier said: Ministers have made their impression upon this 
church; so have their sons. I began to hear very soon after coming here 
about a certain golden-haired little boy, and I do not mean any disrespect, 
but I never heard him called anything but Jack in this whole parish. They 
used to tell us in college that when we called anyone old so-and-so, "old" 
was a title of affection, and I am sure that the term "Jack" in this congre- 
gation is a title of affection. The grandson of the greatest, most beloved 
theologian that New England ever had, son of one of the most beloved 
pastors this church ever had, beloved for himself and much more for his 
work's sake, is the son of the church who is to speak to us next. (I was told 
to-night of the first impressions that some of this church received concerning 
his coming here, the day his father was ordained and installed pastor of 
this church. The grandfather was present, and they brought in that son 
to be baptized by Mark Hopkins, the President of Williams College, the 
grandfather of the boy. They said as he went out that door he turned 
round and looked at the congregation and waved his hand. I will let him 
do it again.) 

ADDRESS OF REV. JOHN HOPKINS DENISON 

There is no pulpit in which I should feel so strangely 
out of place as I do in this one. When one has sat in that pew 
below and gazed up over its edge, from the insignificance of 
childhood, with awe and reverence, to this pulpit as the source 
of authority, both Divine and parental, it is most extraordinary 
to find one's self up here, and it is difficult to adjust one's 
self to the change of position. 

In returning here after thirty years I am impressed by 
at least a few changes. Many of my playfellows and the 
companions of my childhood, are departed. My most familiar 
plaNTnates, and those best adapted to my age, were four of the 
opposite sex — one was ninety-four, one was ninety-two, and 
the ages of the other two were a little beyond my mathematical 
faculties at the time. I miss their faces here to-night. 

There are a great many memories that come crowding 
in as I look into your faces, and a great many old ties that 
seem to be renewing themselves. It is very pleasant to come 
back to such a family life as that of this church. The ties 
of its affection are very real and very strong; but to judge 
from the remarks that I have heard to-night the hold I had 



94 

upon the people here was attained chiefly by capillary attrac- 
tion. I have been trying, after a fashion, to think myself 
back and put myself inside the head of that little chap that 
used to patter around here, until I almost begin to see the town 
again as he saw it thirty years ago. You may think that the 
town has grown, but it has either shrunk or I have lost the 
magnifying power out of my eyes. I can remember that 
little house in Washington Street that seemed like a palatial 
mansion, and that front parlor, at least ten feet square now, 
that then seemed so spacious, where one could feast one's eyes 
on the brilliant frieze of blue and the gorgeous stripes of crim- 
son in the curtains. What now is a narrow yard was then a 
great expanse of field and garden where one could play all 
day under huge branching apple trees that have shrunk up 
instead of growing, and there was a pole out there that went 
almost up into the sky, — like Jack's bean-stalk — and one was 
expected to climb up to the top every day for the exercise of 
one's legs. Then in the background was a barn where dwelt 
another of one's playfellows, a most charming person of the 
equine race, called Aethe. She had to be approached care- 
fully because of her appetite — she would even eat gold com- 
passes from one's father's watch-chain, and she was liable 
any day to mistake one's hair for hay. Then one could go to 
church. This, however, was an experience that entailed 
trials as well as joys, and the former sometimes preponderated. 
It is strange, but one was quite likely to develop before long a 
recurrent, septo-diurnal stomach ache, that appeared regularly 
at ten o'clock every Sunday morning. At times one succeeded 
in rising above this, in reaching the church, and at length in 
getting settled down, yonder in the pastor's pew. It was 
fortunate for one that the people here were not as intolerant 
of the sins of youth as in the early days, when the tithing man 
went about seeking whom he might devour, with strict instruc- 
tions to rap all restless boys on the head. One could turn 
around to watch the strange movements of Mr. Parsons on 
the organ seat in the gallery; then one might look at the dea- 
cons if they did not seem in too solemn a mood. When flesh 
and blood could stand the strain of sitting still and being good 
no longer there was a wonderful lady in the pew behind who 
always understood and would drop over a lozenge into one's 
lap, and one could then curl up to heart-felt enjoyment through 
the rest of the sermon. But the wonder of wonders and delight 



95 

of all delights was when one could get hold of the sexton and 
follow him up the winding stairs into the tower. What a 
place of mystery it was! I have wandered over many strange 
places in the world but never have I found a place of such 
weird fascination as the dark interior of the steeple of this 
church, with its winding ladders and queer clock-work. It 
would be one's greatest ambition and passion some day to be 
the sexton of this chui'ch and to have the honor of going up 
into that steeple once a week to wind the clock and ring the 
bell. 

I have been trying to remember something of the sermons 
preached in those days, or of the prayers that were uttered. 
I fear they made a less lasting impression than the lozengei?. 
There is only one phrase that I have succeeded in rescuing from 
the oblivion of the past. As I used to sit down in that pew I 
remember that almost every Sunday a certain petition was 
uttered from this pulpit which puzzled me very much. It 
was, "That the middle wall of partition might be broken down." 
I puzzled over it a long time. Summoning up my courage I 
once inquired at the paternal source of information and author- 
ity. I was promptly told to look it up in the dictionar3\ That, 
however, did not give me very satisfactory- information. I 
found out what a partition was; then I applied it to the wall 
behind the pulpit which separated the church from the Sunday 
School room. Every Sunday morning the prajTr was made 
that that partition wall should be broken down, and I watched 
anxiously to see the cracks appear. I do not think I ever 
really understood the meaning of that prayer until I came 
back this time. I have begun to realize now what it meant, 
and I begin to understand how it is being answered. How 
strong the partition wall was in those days! The great wall 
between the denominations was almost impassable. I should 
have felt that to enter the service of another denomination 
was an adventure fraught with serious danger. The wall 
between the nations, how strong it was! But now, — here in 
your church — how all the walls are broken down to-day. In 
this very service all the denominations are made one. How 
wondrously the real meaning of that prayer is finding its ful- 
filment, not only in church life, but in doing away with the 
divisions between the classes and the nations. It is actually 
being done right here behind this ver>^ wall I used to watch. 
I rejoice with you, my friends, to be here to-day, and to 



96 

realize how in this great and growing city, with its problems 
of government and of industrial life, with its task of dealing 
with new classes of people and men of strange nations and 
different tongues who are thronging in upon you by the thous- 
and, you are yourself fulfilling that prayer in the greatest 
way, in a manner far beyond the vision of any of us in those 
early days, — you are breaking down all the old walls of parti- 
tion that have sundered men, and are making them one by the 
power of the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 



Mr. Maier said: We are now to have some congratulatory addresses 
from pastors of different churches of this city. As you all know, the South 
Congregational Church of this city is daughter of this church. I don't 
know but I ought to term her the runaway daughter of the church, but 
I wish to tell this daughter to-night that she has been forgiven long ago. 
It is a disappointment to us that Dr. Davis cannot be with us, and yet I 
think it is perhaps more fitting that Mr. Woodruff, associate pastor, should 
speak in behalf of that church, for we appreciate her youthfulness. She 
was born in 1842 — just think how young she is! Yet, she has grovvn, 
as so many of our daughters do, larger than her mother; but it is the youth- 
fulness of that church that is borne in upon us to-night, and it is fitting 
that the junior pastor of that church should speak to us, Rev. Watson 
Woodruff. 



ADDRESS OF REV. WATSON WOODRUFF 

It is a pleasure at this time to extend to you, the members 
of the First Church of Christ, the greetings and congratula- 
tions of that church which is bound to this church by so many 
and so very strong ties. We are bound to you by the ties of 
sympathy in a common denominational interest. We are 
bound to you by the ties that spring up about similar problems 
and similar difficulties and similar joys in striving to bring 
about God's Kingdom in a similar field. We are bound to 
you by ties of pride in a common religious ancestry, those 
firm, strong, serious, religious men and women of few words 
but mighty deeds, our Puritan ancestors. But most of all 
do I stand here with pleasure to-night because I know that 
the church which I have the honor to serve is bound to you 
by ties of personal love and sympathy and friendship. And so 
it gives me great pleasure in behalf of the South Church to 
extend to you our greetings and congratulations; to bid you 
God speed, and to hope that the future may be even more 
effectual in the Master's service than the past; that glorious 
past in which you take such great pride to-night. 

I have the honor to read resolutions from the South Church 
to the First Church of Christ. 



98 

To the First Church of Christ in New Britain, Conn. : 

The South Church extends its congratulations to the First 
Church at this one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. 

We congratulate our mother church: 

That it has so complete an equipment of sanctuary, 
chapel, and other requisites for its varied comprehen- 
sive work; 

That it has had a long line of devoted pastors, and an 
honored roll of faithful officers, who have ministered 
to its needs and directed its work; 

That it has had a large list of loyal members who in 
serving the church with fidelity, have contributed 
largely to the welfare of the community; 

That the relations between the two churches — mother 
and daughter — have been so cordial and pleasant, 
that with the constant interchange of these relations 
there has been fraternal union, a common aim and 
purpose, knowing that One was our Master, even 
Christ, and all we were brethren. ;:-; 

With these congratulations we wish you joy and prosper- 
ity, and pray that "the Lord of peace Himself will 
give you peace always," with everlasting happiness. 



Mr. Maier said: No one who knows the heart of this church can 
doubt the deep affection, friendship and fellowship that exists on the part 
of this church toward the Trinity Methodist Church and its pastor and its 
members. We hear it said that former days were not better than these 
but yet I look back at some of the privileges that belonged to this congre- 
gation in earlier days with a strange feeling, for Dr. Smalley took occasion 
at one time to warn this congregation against those "terrible heretics, the 
Methodists." I had no one to warn me and I married one of them. Dr. 
Bell is smaller physically than I am, so that I shall feel perfectly safe to 
invite him into this pulpit with me to-night and to receive the words of 
greeting from our sister church, the beloved Trinity Methodist Episcopal 
Church of New Britain. 



ADDRESS OF REV. J. H. BELL, Ph.D. 

My dear friends, I do not understand just what form Mr. 
Maier expects my congratulations to take, since he expresses 
himself as having no fear of me because I am a smaller man 
physically than he is, nor do I quite know whether at this time 
to congratulate myself more than you; certainly as regards this 
particular performance I congratulate myself vastly more than 
I can possibly congratulate you. The first reason that prompts 
me to congratulate myself is because I come so early on the 
program. The last time it was my privilege to speak when the 
pastors of the city spoke together, we had some seventeen 
or eighteen speakers and they were all limited to five minutes. 
They failed to obser\^e the limit, however, for each man as 
he came spoke a little longer than his predecessor. Some of 
the speeches were a half hour long. Dr. Davis had charge of 
the program, and he hammered me unmercifully all through the 
program, but reserved me till the last, and then, after keeping 
me waiting until half past ten, he rose and said that inasmuch 
as the hour was so very late and the audience had listened so 
patiently up to that time, the remaining speech would be 
omitted. I consider myself, therefore, verj^ fortunate in 
coming so early on the program to-night, and I desire to say 
to my brethren who are to succeed me that I propose to take 
my full time, and if I trespass at all on their time they will 



100 

remember that I was not permitted to speak on the occasion 
to which I refer. 

When I came in here to-night Mr. Maier greeted me with 
the statement that at first I was to take my place in front and 
listen to the sons of the church speak. I did not know what 
he meant, and thought it was a reflection on my age, and I was 
prepared to resent it. It reminded me of an experience, for 
I have had some experiences along this line of late. Not long 
since it was my privilege to visit a Baptist clergyman in whose 
church I was to preach. I arrived after night-fall, so the little 
ones were all snug in bed and I was not permitted to see them. 
However, I was up bright and early the next morning, ahead 
of the members of the family. While I was walking about the 
parlor, interesting myself in books and pictures, suddenly a 
little tousled head appeared and a little three-year-old entered 
the room, and at my greeting came directly to me and with 
astonishingly little fear received my greetings though I was a 
stranger. In a few moments she disappeared and soon I 
learned why she came to me so readily. She ran up-stairs to 
her mother, and cried in great glee: "Oh, Mamma, Grandpa 
is down-stairs." So you see, my friends, I am a little sensitive 
on the point of age, and when Mr. Maier said that the sons of 
the church would speak first, I wondered where I came in 
and what my relationship to this church properly is. I have 
been wondering ever since, but I think I have at last figured it 
out accurately. It has come to me that I am a brother-in-law. 
Mr. Maier has already mentioned the fact which certainly 
sustains my contention that I am a brother-in-law of the First 
Church. The gracious lady who presides over the parsonage 
and the parson, had an excellent Methodist training and I think 
on that account at least I have the right to claim that I am 
a brother-in-law of the church. 

I must now come to the speech. It gives me great pleas- 
ure to share in these very happy events. I esteem it a privilege 
to bring to you, brethren of the First Church, my offering, 
inconsiderable though it is, of congratulation and good will. 
And not only do I speak for myself but for the entire church 
of which I have the honor to be the pastor, which acknowl- 
edges through me your very gracious invitation extended to 
it. I understand that this is your one hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary. Now I suppose there are some people who 
think that represents a long period of time. In fact, I have 



101 

heard certain people characterize you as the "old" First Church. 
I want to say to you, my friends, that I am here to-night to 
congratulate you on your youth. What is one hundred and 
fifty years in the life of the church of Christ! I am reminded 
of the words of Victor Hugo. "One hundred years," he says, 
"is youth in a church and age in a house. Man's lodging seems 
to partake of his ephemeral character, and God's house of His 
eternity." And how true it is. I congratulate you on your 
youth. I have indeed been delighted with these charming 
reminiscences to which we have listened. And you do well 
to remind yourselves at this time of the things that have 
transpired in the past. And yet the picture of you that fills 
me with interest and inspiration is that of a sturdy youth whose 
face is toward the future, whose heart is filled with hope and 
ambition, whose whole soul yearns for the struggle in which 
he is to perform a noble part. As I said a moment ago, I 
think you are quite right in calling up these charming and 
delightful recollections of the past. This is the time for it. 
And yet I am sure j^ou share with me the feeling that there 
lurks a snare and a danger in everlastingly boasting of and 
dwelling in the past. I need not develop that thought; it is 
not necessary here. It is quite impossible for any Congre- 
gational church to yield to that danger. It is not in the 
genius of Congregationalism to easily fall into such error. 
But it would be easy for me to illustrate in the history of the 
Christian church the peril of indulging the feeling that because 
we have an ancient history therefore we must be the one and 
the only thing. My dear brethren, as we take our place in 
the great field of Christian labor, our inspiration must be what 
is before us, not what is behind us. And why? Because "the 
year's at the spring, The day's at the morn." This must be 
our motto more and more. 

And then I congratulate you on your fraternal spirit, the 
spirit which is so admirably exemplified in this service to which 
we are gathered to-night. I wish there were more of it in this 
city. Let me say that I am the oldest pastor here except my 
friend Anderson yonder. I have seen every one of the pastors 
go out of these churches which face directly on (he center. 
Dr. Cooper went just as I came, then my beloved friend Mr. 
Strong left the Baptist Church, and then in great sorrow of 
heart it was my privilege to stand upon this platform when the 
form of my honored friend and colleague, Dr. Hall, lay before 



102 

me. I feel as if I had the right to claim citizenship in New 
Britain, but I have felt ever since I came here that there is 
need of a larger fraternal spirit in our churches. If our trouble 
is provincialism, or conservatism or sacred laziness, let us get 
rid of it and have done with it forever, that we may stand close 
together in the common cause which we represent. Do we 
not follow the same Christ? Do we not preach the same Gos- 
pel? Do we not face the same world of need? I beg to say 
that there is not a man in this audience who could tell the 
difference between a Methodist and a Congregational sermon 
to-day. I would like to see several times within the year a 
great rousing meeting where all these churches would come 
together that it might be impressed upon the mind and con- 
science of this city that we are one in Christ Jesus. 

There is one other thing that I should like to congratulate 
you upon, and in order to do that I shall have to change the 
pronoun from "it" to "he." I know the old adage: "Praise 
to the face is open disgrace." And I am not going to praise 
him, but I do congratulate the First Church upon its present 
pastor, a royal man, a brother beloved. And do you know, 
my friends, I am more and more convinced that the pastor's 
spirit and the pastor's influence most certainly register them- 
selves in the life and spirit and conduct of his people. You 
follow the ministry of any man for a number of years, especially 
if he is a man with striking personality, and you will find that 
somehow or other the congregation to whom he ministers 
receives and reflects his spirit. I can wish no better thing for 
this church than that the spirit of our brother be reflected 
in the life of this people. God bless you pastor and people, 
and give you many golden years — years without number — 
in the ministry and service of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



Mr. Maier said: I regret very much to state to you that the Rev. 
A. C. Bacon, pastor of a granddaughter of this church, is ill and will not 
be able to be with us to-night. 

We have with us one whose work has made a deep impression upon 
the city. We have been sorry and glad to give him many of our members 
to work with him. We know they are in good care and are receiving a 
good training. I gladly welcome here to-night the pastor of the People*! 
Church, the Rev. M. S. Anderson. 

ADDRESS OF REV. M. S. ANDERSON 

Dear Brethren and Members of the First Church of Christ: 

It is an honor and privilege to be the bearer of greetings 
and congratulations to you from the People's Church of Christ 
upon this your one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. That you 
should observe this glad occasion is indeed most fitting and 
appropriate. You have had as a church in this community 
a long and honorable career. As the pioneer of evangelical 
Christianity you have not only planted here the standard 
of the cross of Christ, but in a larger measure perhaps than 
any other body of believers you have, upon the whole, main- 
tained the honor of our holy faith. 

Our fathers had great problems to meet and difficulties 
to face and were handicapped by limitations with which we 
are unfamiliar, but as they confidently looked to God for help 
and trusted in His sure Word, they won victories and have 
bequeathed to us a glorious heritage. We have our problems to 
face to-day which are as perplexing and far-reaching as any 
that ever confronted the church of Christ. While conditions 
have changed with the passing years and the tactics of warfare 
by the world, the flesh and the devil have been radically changed, 
the battle is still on between the hosts of righteousness and 
the powers of darkness. We need to double our diligence, 
double our guards, strengthen our lines and prepare for more 
aggressive warfare, rather than lower our standard or consent 
to compromise. The plan of campaign against the church 
has changed from open hostility to subtility and deception. 
The bold attacks of infidelity in the past were less to be feared 



104 

than present day destructive criticism, that would eUminate 
the supernatural, mutilate the sacred teachings of the Word of 
God and rob our adorable Lord of His deity. 

Unto us, as disciples of Jesus, and as His representatives 
during this age of His rejection, when we are called to go out- 
side the camp and share His reproach, we have been given the 
great commission of world-wide evangelization. We are not only 
called to the defense of a pure Gospel but to an aggressive work 
of making Christ known throughout the world as the only 
Redeemer and personal Savior of men. Our commission has 
not been changed with the generations that have come and 
gone. The Gospel of Christ is still the same power of God unto 
salvation to those who believe; the needs of sinful humanity 
are the same; the eternal realities of heaven and hell are the 
same, and blessed be God, Jesus Christ is the "same, yester- 
day, to-day and forever." 

We congratulate this dear people, the pastor and members 
of this parish, for the great and glorious work which God 
hath wrought through you and your predecessors. We bid 
you Godspeed and pray that through coming days until the 
church militant becomes the church triumphant and glorified, 
you may continue to contend earnestly for the faith once for 
all delivered unto the saints. 



Mr. Maier said: This church had not been planted in New Britain 
more than fifty years before "those Baptists" began to come into this com- 
munity. I had not been in this church more than fifty days before that 
Baptist minister began to creep into my heart and he has had a place there 
ever since, and I am glad to have him speak to you to-night. 

ADDRESS OF REV. T. EDWIN BROWN, D. D. 

I should think you would all be dead; at least, that you 
would all feel that you are yourselves one hundred and fifty 
years old, and were somehow entitled to a little foretaste of 
the rest of the immortals. The most gracious thing I could do 
for you at this late hour would be to pronounce the benediction, 
which with all my heart I proceed to do, — though not to dismiss 
the meeting just yet. For you, my colleague and friend, 
Pastor Maier, and for you, brothers and sisters of this First 
Church of Christ, Christian, I pray, "the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ be with you all." And the people whom I serve 
add to their pastor's benediction their accordant Amen! 

One of the causes I find in your history for my owti special 
congratulation is in the fact that you selected so famous a 
day on which to be bom, April the nineteenth. It was not 
famous when you were born. Your being born on that day 
began to make it famous. It very soon acquired a world-wide 
fame. When you, then a demure Puritan maiden, were cele- 
brating your sweet seventeenth in 1775, at Lexington and Con- 
cord Bridge "the embattled farmers fired the shot" — you know 
the rest, and all the glorious history that succeeded it. Then 
just after you had rounded your century, April 19, 1861, the 
blood of Massachusetts soldiers was spilled in the streets of 
Baltimore. And then, four years later, alas, the day! April 
19th, 1865, the martwed body of our great Lincoln left the 
White House for its final resting place. 

But time would fail for me to tell you of the many famous 
things that have happened on April 19th. On one April 19th 
a lad and a lassie joined hands to travel together through life, 
for better or for worse. And in the years since then there 
has been ever so much better and ever so little worse, and God 



106 

has been good, and life has been sweet, and home has been 
a glimpse of heaven, so that a man stands here to-night so 
grateful for it all that he asks the privilege of joining his. April 
19th with your April 19th, red letter days both in his calendar 
and yours. 

I bring you to-night, dear friends, not only the hearty 
greetings of my people, your neighbors and friends, but I 
bring you the greeting of the larger brotherhood who under 
the one great standard are carrying the flag of the Baptist 
army corps. I have special right to speak for that larger 
brotherhood. My friend, Pastor Maier, I know how you feel. 
I know what it is to have the megacephalic ache that comes 
from the pressure of historic centuries on one's brain. But if 
to your one hundred and fifty years you could add a whole 
other one hundred more, then indeed your eyes might stand 
out for fatness, and your form expand in stature and in girth 
for the fulness of that joy. That joy I have known, and I 
have not gotten over the pride of it yet. It was my privilege 
as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode 
Island, worshiping in the ancient sanctuary, which in its sim- 
ple classic beauty has stood among its elms since 1775, a 
sanctuary much older than this and at least as beautiful, to 
lead that people back for two hundred and fifty years to the 
day of their founding at the head of Narragansett Bay. Here 
Roger Williams, exile, planted in the wilderness a church 
where three years before he had planted a state, and lighted 
there for both church and state the torch of a religious freedom 
whose light and heat are now seen and felt throughout the 
world. I am not going to rake over those old "ashes from 
history's buried urn," nor am I going to attempt to adjust the 
praise or blame as to why your ancestors and mine could not 
live at peace together, but that Roger had to get out of Massa- 
chusetts Bay for the colony's good. I am glad to leave all 
that. I am especially glad to leave it in the presence of my 
Congregational friends, because one of their own kin, the 
Congregationalist, Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, has said of my 
Roger, "He stands in New England a mighty, benignant form, 
always pleading for some magnanimous idea, some tender 
grace, the rectification of some wrong, the exercise of some sort 
of forbearance." I am glad to "let by-gones be by-gones," 
also because my Roger and your Winthrop, John junior, Con- 
necticut's great Governor, struck up a sort of David and 



107 

Jonathan friendship, so that during the winter of 1660 my 
Roger writes to your John thus: "Your loving hnes in this 
cold, dead winter, were as a cup of your Connecticut cider, 
which I am glad to hear abounds with you," And so to-night, 
forgetting all quarrels, we two, you and I, my brother, descend- 
ants of the Connecticut Congregationalist Winthrop and of 
the Rhode Island Baptist Williams, pledge each other in new 
loyalty and truth, not in a cup of Connecticut cider, but in 
the loving cup of the grace and fellowship of Jesus Christ. 
From the beginning of our denominational history we 
Baptists and you Congregationalists, so close of kin, have stood 
together ever loyally for recognition of the principle that 
every believer is a priest and a king, and that any intermediarj-- 
between the soul and Jesus Christ was not to be tolerated. Out 
of that principle we, perhaps a little earlier, but you, the whole 
of it later on. have learned that since Jesus Christ is the Lord 
of the conscience, no state can be the Lord of the conscience 
and no church can be the Lord of the conscience, and hence 
have come our principles of personal freedom and local church 
independency. Under this banner, in the growth of our 
churches at home and in the expansion of our missions abroad, 
we have marv^elously prospered. Next to the gift of God's 
own Son and Spirit, the greatest boon our Father has conferred 
upon our race is the liberty wherewith Jesus makes His people 
free. The history of man from the beginning to the end is the 
drama of liberty, the struggle for the freedom of the spirit, 
for the reign of the soul. President Nicholas Murray Butler 
of Columbia University has said: "The most precious thing 
in the world is the individual human mind and soul, with its 
capacity for growth and service. To bind it fast to a formula, 
to hold it in check to serve the selfish ends of mediocrity, to 
deny it utterance and expression, political, economic and moral, 
is to make democracy impossible as a permanent social and 
governmental form." With a great price our fathers obtained 
that freedom, and v/e their sons will endanger or minimize 
it at our peril and to our shame. Surrender it we never 
can. The lamented Charles Cuthbert Hall, late Presi- 
dent of the Union Theological Seminary, said: "The world 
is broad. The arch of God's great blue above us is wide. 
One star differs from another star in glory. The soul of 
man, as his body, finds its joy and its peace and its oppor- 
tunity of widest service on the hills of God, where its feet are 



108 

unfettered rather than in the prison lock-step of any enforced 
subscription or any compelled ecclesiastical uniformity," and 
the message of your brothers, who used to be on yonder comer, 
to you, staying for the years to come on this one, is this: 
Stand by your independency. Let no man take away that 
crown. If in the conflicts of the future you shall find that 
liberty is being hard pressed and is becoming endangered by 
any claim of old Catholicism or of new Catholicism, or of any 
sort of Catholicism except the great Christian catholicity of 
love to the one Christ, who is in us all, the catholicity of the 
cathoMc, comprehensive, universal Christ, — in that hour of 
peril you shall find close at your side for every service to our 
Master and our common humanity, your brothers of the Baptist 
line, ready to make any sacrifice that they may keep alive 
and aloft the spirit of personal freedom by which alone we 
can maintain an enduring Christian brotherhood. Personal 
religion, a Christ-like man cultivating personal relations with 
Christ, and free to cultivate them, cultivating toward his 
brothers the spirit of Christ, and free to cultivate that — a 
Christ-like man living out Christ's religion — this is the rock 
on which Christ is building the church against which the gates 
of hell shall never prevail. 

"God make you yet, through centuries long 
In peace secure, in justice strong; 
Around your gift of freedom draw 
The safeguard of His righteous law: 
And, cast in some diviner mould, 
Let the new cycle shame the old!" 



Mr. Maier said: Rev. Harry I. Bodley, of St. Mark's Episcopal 
Church, was asked to be present and take part with us in these exercises. 
He informed the chairman of the committee that it would be necessary 
for him to be out of the city to-day. We found out to-day that Mr. Bodley 
had changed his plan and was to be in the city, and I have at last discovered 
him in this congregation, and I would like to ask him if he will not come 
forward and give us just a word. 

ADDRESS OF REV. HARRY I. BODLEY 

I don't know of any Methodist arithmetic, but if there be 
such then in it five years are more than nine. Dr. Bell has 
been here five years; I will be here nine years the first of August. 
Now, having corrected his monumental whopper I will correct 
my own. I have been detained at home notwithstanding 
the temptation of the gift of fifty dollars as a bribe to go away 
and stay away and a promise of a substitute over Sunday to 
rest my congregation, because of very serious illness and sorrow 
that came into my parish. One of my former choir boys was 
exceedingly ill and has died, for whose sake I stayed. That 
has given me the opportunity and privilege of being here 
to-night. 

I have had some grave disadvantages in my life; I was 
born in the South and an Episcopalian, and after hearing some 
of the things that were said to-night I realize more than ever 
how serious a thing it is for one's ancestors not to come over 
at least in the steerage of the Mayflower. Now I want to 
congratulate you to-night on just two things. One of them 
is the natural product of democracy and Congregationalism. 
That means the concentration of all the power that God has 
given to men and the co-operation which God has continued 
to extend to men in the development of the individual. It 
means that in the state and in the church, the individual comes 
first and shall be the prominent object before the eye of all 
the laws and ordinances that shall be pas.'^ed for the mutual 
benefit. But the moment you admit mutual benefit, you admit 
the rights of other men and women in you, and that no man 
stands alone before God, because there is a brother on either 



110 

side of each of us who has an interest in all that one is and says 
and does, or else there would be no need for the Golden Rule 
or the Ten Commandments. You have developed splendid 
types of manhood and womanhood, and I congratulate you 
upon all the product of that individualism that is character- 
istic of your polity, from the men who founded this church and 
this town, who were an honor unto this institution and would 
be to any other, to those young men who stood here to-night 
as the product of the later days of the same institution. 

I have some advantages in my life also. One of them is 
that I have lived four years in Prof. Perrin's father's house. 
I have had my study in that house almost nine years and it is 
there to-day. It was because I was detained in Dr. Perrin's 
house attending to two or three engagements, choir, woman's 
guild, young men's guild, etc., that I was a little late here 
to-night. Another of the advantages that have come into 
my life was that Mr. Denison's father, if I mistake not, went 
from here, to Williamstown, Massachusetts, and shortly after 
I became the rector of St. John's Church, North Adams, 
where the Rev. Theodore T. Munger was my friend and 
colleague in the Congregational Church, and Dr. Denison was 
the Congregational minister in the neighboring college town, 
Williamstown. At the present time Mr. Walter (the third of 
these later sons of this church) is my next door neighbor; 
so that I have been able to a certain extent, directly or indi- 
rectly, to touch the life of this congregation, and of the latest 
and some of the best products of it in three different directions, 
and I count it a privilege that it should be so. 

I have also had another advantage in my ministry and that 
is that three times I have succeeded a Congregational minister. 
The Rev. Elisha Whittlesey was the pastor of one of the Con- 
gregational Churches in Waterbury, but he entered the Episco- 
pal Church and though his father had been one of the valued 
deacons of the church in Salisbury, Litchfield County, and 
his father-in-law and himself Congregational ministers in 
Canaan, yet I followed him as rector of the Episcopal Church 
there. I succeeded him the second time as secretary of our 
Educational Society for the preparation of our young men for 
the ministry, and I succeeded the Rev. Jacob A. Biddle (as 
archdeacon of Hartford), who had been a very prominent 
Congregational minister in Central New York. Thus you 
see that the early disadvantages of birth and of religious 



Ill 

education have been more or less ofTset by these things, and 
when I am tempted to be carried away too much, as Dr. 
Brown and some of my Baptist brothers are, by certain matters 
of ritual, for our Baptist friends are the greatest ritualists in 
the world, and when I am apt to be carried away with other 
forms and ceremonies, like a vested choir, and when I am apt 
to think too much about the apostolic succession and about 
the appointment of bishops in the church of God, why, I sim- 
ply go back and recall the fact that my great-grandfather and 
my great-great-grandfather on my father's side are buried 
in a Presbyterian church-yard, and that my great-grandfather 
and great-grandmother on the other side were married in 
the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where you will 
find the record to-day. So much for some of the advantages 
that have come into my life. 

I wish in the second place to congratulate you on the fact 
that you have founded, that you have perpetuated and that 
you are proud of an institution. No man can do any great 
thing unless he becomes part of an institution. It is because 
this one hundred and fifty years old church is a corporate body, 
made up of many members, and because there has been left 
in it the odor and form and treasure of the sanctity of the lives 
of the ministers and laymen that have constituted it for thus 
century and a half, that it is the power to-day in New Britain 
that it is. I was talking with a friend of mine about it to-day. 
"Yes," he said, "it is like a bank of deposit — all the good stays 
in, none of the bad does, because when you come to deposit 
counterfeit money or worthless treasure of any kind, the bank 
refuses to receive it." It only takes the gold and the silver 
and the paper that has a promise on it to pay gold and silver. 
It takes all the good in the lives of those who have gone before, 
and treasures it and keeps it and then draws out the compound 
interest through those who come after, with all they can give 
for the benefit of the community out of which it has grown, 
in which it has grown, and for which it lives and works. 

Now, my friends, take your splendid men and women that 
you make. Keep them institutionally united, strong, con- 
centrated, full of the favor and grace of man come down from 
the past to yourself in the present. Don't look simply at the 
future — there will be no future without the past through the 
present. Let the balance wheel of the past hold the present 
steady from the vagaries of the fashions and the fancies of 



112 

the passing age, like the bonnets that the women wear and 
must tip to get through the door. That will pass away like 
many another fashion, because it is worthless and is not very 
pretty. Yes! keep your men and women embodied in institu- 
tions. New England will learn by and by the reason why the 
community life, the municipal spirit of our country, is so back- 
ward and slow in growing. It is because you have not taught 
the value of municipal, united life, and the value of the corpor- 
ate body made up of the many members, which has been 
preached by St. Paul, and has been proven as to its value ever 
since, and not least when about forty-three years ago your 
soldiers came marching home from Dixey. They had been 
down there to lick the other fellow into obedience when he 
thought he could do just as he pleased without reference to 
the remainder of the body politic. Now the same thing makes 
it necessary to have union and have men to dwell together 
with a full sense of their relationship and the power of the 
bond of love and unity and combined activity in the state, 
as makes it necessary in the church of Almighty God. There- 
fore, 

I congratulate you not only for the men but also for the 
institution, and in the spirit of these Easter flowers, and of the 
New Testament, I will close what I have to say with the 
prayer and hope that "the God of peace who brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of 
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 
may make you perfect in every good work to do His will, 
working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through 
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever." 



APPENDIX 



ORIGINAL MEMBERS 
April 19, 1758 



PASTOR: Rev. John Smalley 

From the Church at Newington 

Major John Paterson and wife Noah Stanley 

Thomas Richards and wife Ruth Kilborn 

William Smith and wife Experience, wife of Jonathan 

Ebenezer Smith and wife Griswold 

Thomas Lusk and wife Ruth, wife of Robert Woodruff 

Samuel Richards and wife Mary, wife of Daniel Kilborn 

From the Church at Kensington 

Widow Hannah Seymour Nathan Judd and wife 

" Mary Andrews Phineas Judd and wife 

" Anna Booth John Judd and wife 

" Elizabeth Lee Joshua Mather and wife 

Benjamin Judd and wife Elijah Hart and wife 

Joseph Smith Judah Hart and wife 

Rebekah, wife of Daniel Dewey Elijah Hart, Jr. 
Hannah, wife of Gideon Griswold Moses Andrews and wife 
Martha, wife of Samuel Goodrich William Paterson 

Joseph Smith, Jr., and wife Widow Hannah Root 

Jedediah Smith and wife John Kelly and wife 

Josiah Lee and wife Joseph Woodruff and wife 

Isaac Lee and wife Simeon Woodruff and wife 

Stephen Lee Jedediah Goodrich and wife 

James Judd Nathan Booth and wife 

Uriah Judd and wife Ladwick Hotchkiss and wife 



PASTORS 

Rev. John SMALLEY, the first pastor, was born in the 
North Society, Lebanon, now Columbia, Conn., June 4, 1734; 
studied theology under Rev. Dr. Bellamy; ordained and installed 
pastor of this church April 19, 1758, and continued in that office 
until his death, June 1, 1820, aged 86 years. Because of his 
infirmities and increasing age, a colleague was appointed in 
1810, and he ceased, to a great extent, from pastoral and min- 
isterial labor from that time. He held the pastoral office 
sixty-two years, and excepting Rev. Newton Skinner, Rev. 
E. H. Richardson and Rev. Dr. R. T. Hall, he is the only 
pastor who died in office. 

Rev. Newton Skinner, the second pastor, was born in 
East Granby, Conn., October 10, 1782, graduated from Yale Col- 
lege 1804; studied theology with Rev. E. Gay of Suffield; was 
pastor of this church from February 13, 1810, to March 31, 
1825, when he suddenly died, aged 42 years. 

Rev. Henry Jones, the third pastor, was born October 
15, 1801, in Hartford, Conn.; graduated from Yale College 1820, 
and from Andover Theological Seminary, 1824; ordained and in- 
stalled pastor of this church October 11, 1825. The failure of 
his health occasioned his dismission December 19, 1827. He 
afterwards became a teacher in Greenfield, Mass., and in the 
Cottage School in Bridgeport, Conn., from 1838 to 1865. He 
died in Bridgeport November 9, 1878, aged 77 years. 

Rev. Jonathan Cogswell, the fourth pastor, was born 
in Rowley, Mass., September 3, 1782; graduated from Harvard 
College, 1806; tutor at Bowdoin College 1807 to 1809; pastor 
at Saco, Me., from October 10, 1810 to October 16, 1828; and 
pastor of this church from April 29, 1829 to April 29, 1834, 
when he resigned his pastorate to accept an appointment, 
made March 21, 1834, to the professorship of Ecclesiastical 
History in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, then at 
East Windsor Hill, where he served until 1844. He died in 
New Brunswick, N. J., August 1, 1864, aged 81 years. 



117 

Rev. Dwight M. Seward, the fifth pastor, was bom in 
Durham, Conn., July 31, 1811; graduated from Yale College 
1831; studied theology at Yale Theological Seminary; pastor 
of this church from February 3, 1836 to June 15, 1842; in 
Middlefield from 1842 to 1845; in West Hartford, from January 
14, 1845 to December 18, 1850; pastor of the Reformed Church, 
Yonkers, N. Y., from January 1, 1851, to 1852, and of the 
First Presbyterian Church, Yonkers, from April 14, 1852 to 
May 29, 1870; having resigned from failing health, was without 
charge for some months; then stated supply several months 
at West Hoboken, N. J.; supplied at Schroon Lake, N. Y., 
summers of 1872 and 1873; supplied at Moriah, N. Y., from 
1874 to 1879; pastor, Presbyterian Church, New Providence, 
N. J., 1880; pastor, Plymouth Church, Portland, Me., from 
1881 to 1884; resident in South Norwalk from October 1, 1884. 
He died in 1901. 

Rev. Chester S. Lyman, the sixth pastor, was bom in 
Manchester, Conn., January 13, 1814; graduated from Yale 
College 1837, and from Yale Theological Seminary 1842; pastor 
of this church from February 5, 1843 to April 23, 1845. Fail- 
ure of health then occasioned his dismissal. He went to the 
Sandwich Islands and California, in pursuit of health, and 
returned in 1850. In 1859, he was appointed to the professor- 
ship of Industrial Mechanics and Physics in Yale College. He 
died at New Haven, Conn., January 29, 1890. 

Rev. Charles S. Sherman, the seventh pastor, was bora 
April 26, 1810, in Albany, N. Y.; graduated from Yale College 
1835, and from Andover Theological Seminary 1838; ordained 
as evangelist at Wobum, Mass., November 30, 1838; pastor 
at Pepperell, Mass., from 1838 to 1839. He embarked at 
Boston for Palestine, July 13, 1839, and was missionary resid- 
ing at Jerusalem until the loss of his health compelled his return 
to this country in 1842; pastor of this church from July 2, 
1845 to September 5, 1849; pastor in Naugatuck from November 
21, 1849 to May 25, 1869; pastor of the Presbyterian Church, 
Nassau, N. Y., from 1870 to 1875, and without charge there 
until October, 1884. He died at Manchester Green, Conn., 
January 3, 1899. 

Rev. Ebenezer B. Andrews, the eighth pastor, was 
bom at Danbury, Conn., April 29, 1821; graduated from Marietta 



118 

College, Ohio, 1842; pastor at Housatonicville, Conn., from 
April 29, 1846 to April 4, 1849. He was afterward, for a year, 
teacher of the Alger Institute, and also preacher for the church 
at South Cornwall; pastor of this church from June 26, 1850 
to November 12, 1851. Impaired health occasioned his dis- 
mission from his pastorate here; and he served as professor 
of Natural Science and Natural Theology at Marietta College, 
Ohio, from 1852 to 1867. He enlisted, 1861, in the Thirty- 
sixth regiment of Ohio Volunteers as Major, and rose to be 
Colonel. After spending two years in the army he returned 
to his professorship in the college. He was serving the church 
in Lancaster, 0., when he died, August 14, 1880, aged 59 
years. 

Rev. Horace Winslow, the ninth pastor, was bom May 
18, 1814, at Enfield, Mass. ; graduated from Hamilton College, 
Clinton, N. Y., 1839; studied theology at Auburn Theological 
Seminary, N. Y., and at Union Theological Seminary, New 
York City, graduating 1840. He was ordained May 25, 1842; 
pastor at Lansingburgh, N. Y., from 1843 to 1845; pastor in 
Rockville, Conn., from October 28, 1845, to November 30, 
1852; pastor of this church from December 29, 1852 to Decem- 
ber 20, 1857; pastor in Great Barrington, Mass., from January 
5, 1858 to March 19, 1862. In 1862 he was appointed chap- 
lain to the Fifth regiment Connecticut Volunteers, and served 
several months; pastor at Binghamton, N. Y., from December 
1, 1863 to December 26, 1866; pastor at Willimantic, Conn., 
from April 28, 1869, to April 28, 1881. He died at Weatogue, 
Conn., March 7, 1905. 

Rev. Lavalette Perrin, the tenth pastor, was born in 
Vernon, Conn., May 15, 1816, graduated from Yale College, 
1840, and from Yale Theological Seminary, 1843; ordained, and 
pastor at Goshen, Conn., from December 13,1843 to September 
4, 1857; pastor of this church from February 3, 1858 to May 
31, 1870; became pastor at Torrington, Conn., July 31, 1872. He 
became associate editor of the Religious Herald in 1875. iHe 
died at Hartford, Conn., February 18, 1889. 

Rev. John Henry Denison, the eleventh pastor, was bom 
at Boston, Mass., March 3, 1841; graduated from Williams Col- 
lege 1862; studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary, 
and with President Mark Hopkins at Williamstown, Mass.; 



119 

missionary at Hampton, Va., 1866 to 1867; acting pastor at 
South Williamstown, Mass., from 1868 to 1870; ordained at 
South WilHamstovvn January 30, 1870, and pastor until 1871; 
pastor of this church from February 8, 1871 to September 26, 
1878; acting pastor at the Normal Institute, Hampton, Va., 
from 1879 to 1880; spent two years in Europe; again acting 
pastor at South Williamstown one year; now pastor at Williams 
College. 

REV. Elias Huntington Richardson, the twelfth pas- 
tor, was born at Lebanon, N. H., August 11, 1827; graduated 
from Dartmouth College 1850, and from Andover Theological 
Seminary 1853; ordained, and pastor at Goffstown, N. H., from 
May 18, 1854 to October 30, 1856; pastor of the First Church, 
Dover, N. H., from December 10, 1856 to December 10, 1863; 
pastor of the Richmond Street Church, Providence, R. I., 
from December 30, 1863 to April 8, 1867; pastor of the First 
Church, Westfield, Mass., from May 1, 1867 to April 5, 1872; 
pastor of the First Church, Hartford, Conn., from April 24, 
1872 to January 1, 1879, and pastor of this church from Janu- 
ary 7, 1879 to June 27, 1883, when he died, aged 56. 

REV. George Stockton Burroughs, LL. D., the thir- 
teenth pastor of this church, was bom at Waterloo, N. Y., January 

6, 1855; graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1873, and 
from the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church 
at Princeton, N. J., in 1877. He was ordained July 10, 1877; 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Slatington, Pa., 
from July 10, 1877, to January 26, 1880; pastor of the First 
Church of Christ, Fairfield, Conn., from February 1, 1880 
to February 3, 1884; and pastor of this church from February 

7, 1884 to January 1, 1887; professor of Biblical Literature, 
Amherst College, from 1886 to 1892; president and professor 
of Biblical Literature, Wabash College, from 1892 to 1899; 
professor of the Old Testament Language and Literature, 
Oberlin Seminary, 1899. He died October 22, 1901. 

Rev. William Burnet Wright, D. D., the fourteenth 
pastor, was bom in Cincinnati, 0., April 15, 1838; graduated 
from Dartmouth College in 1857; spent a year in business; 
was two years at Andover Seminar>', two years at Berlin and 
Halle Universities; ordained at Chicago, 1863; remained pastor 
of the South Congregational Church in that city until 1867; 



120 

pastor of Berkeley Street Church, Boston, 1867 to 1880; in- 
stalled pastor of this church February 15, 1888; dismissed 
February 1, 1891, to become pastor of the Lafayette Street 
Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, N. Y.; pastor of that church 
until December 30, 1900. 

Rev. George Henry Sandwell, the fifteenth pastor, 
was born at Ramsgate, in the county of Kent, England, 
December 13, 1849; educated at Clifton College and at the 
Pastors' College, London; ordained July 1, 1873, as pastor of 
the Congregational Church, Woburn, England; held pastorates 
subsequently at Ipswich, London, and Southsea; installed 
pastor of First Congregational Church, Toronto, Canada, 
May 30, 1889; installed pastor of the First Church of Christ, 
New Britain, Ct., February 17, 1892; dismissed to become 
pastor of the Congregational Church, Leytonstone, England, 
June 30, 1897. 

Rev. Russell Thaddeus Hall, D. D., the sixteenth pas- 
tor, was born in Richmond, Vt., October 6, 1844; graduated from 
Oberlin College in 1865, and from Union Theological Seminary 
in 1870; was ordained and installed pastor of Pittsford, Vt., 
September 8, 1870; remained there till September 1, 1879; 
pastor at Mt. Vernon, 0., from that date until September 27, 
1885; engaged in Home Missionary work in South Florida 
till October 2, 1887; pastor at Jacksonville, Fla., till January 
3, 1892; then pastor at Greenwich, Conn., till December 16, 
1897, and pastor of this church from that date. Died August 
9, 1905. 

Rev. Henry William Maier, born at Seneca Falls, New 
York, August 8, 1866. Attended the public school of the village. 
Hamilton College 1889 and Syracuse University 1890. 
Auburn Theological Seminary 1893. Pastor of the Oaks 
Corners Presbyterian Church June 1, 1893 to May 1, 1900. 
Supply at Saratoga Springs, New York, from May 1, 1900 to 
May 1, 1901. Pastor of Union Presbyterian Church, Schenec- 
tady, New York, from June 1, 1901 to April 1, 1907. Pastor 
of this church since April 1, 1907. 



DEACONS OF FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, 
NEW BRITAIN 



John Paterson 
Elijah Hart 
JosiAH Lee 
ISAAC Lee 
Daniel Dewey 
NoAH Stanley 
Elijah Hart, 2d 
Timothy Stanley 
Benjamin Wright 
Elijah Hart, 3d 
David Whittlesey 
Elijah Francis 
Chauncey Cornwall 
Norman Hart 
Morton Judd 
Alfred Andrews 

ROSWELL HAWLEY 

Albert D. Judd 

Lemuel R. Wells 

Henry P. Strong 

Elijah F. Blake 

Charles Northend 

George Clary 
♦Frank L. Hungerford 

Edward H. Davison 

Henry S. Walter 

Albert N. Lewis 

Cornelius Andrews 

Arthur DeWolfe 

Morris C. Webster . 
tCHARLES Elliott Mitchell 

Edward G. Bradley 

*Died June 22, 1909. 
tNote— On March 17, 1911, the day 
work, Mr. Mitchell passed suddenly away in 



1758-1762 

1758-1772 

1772-1797 

1772-1802 

1772-1785 

1774-1778 

1780-1800 

1795-1817 

1801-1813 

1805-1827 

1807-1851 

1822-1846 

1837-1863 

1843-1851 

1851-1868 

1851-1876 

1851-1855 

1859-1864 

1859-1867 

1865-1897 

1867-1901 

1868-1895 

1876 

1876-1909 

1876 

1893 

1893 

1899 

1899-1904 

1901 

1907-1911 

1907 



following his completion of this 
the 74th year of his age. 



MAP OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY OF NEW 

BRITAIN, IN THE TOWN OF FARMINGTON, 

CONN., 1758. 



By JAMES Shepard, M. A. 



The Society was incorporated at the May session of the 
General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut in 1754. On 
June 13, 1754, it voted to build a house for public worship and 
a committee was appointed October 25, 1754, to assist the 
surveyor to make a map of the parish and find the center of the 
society as near as they can, in order to centrally locate 
the meeting-house. We know nothing as to the details of that 
map, which after having served its purpose was no doubt laid 
away and finally lost or destroyed. Our map represents the 
Society as it was four years after its incorporation when the 
church was organized in 1758. Public religious services had 
frequently been held within the limits of New Britain, prior 
to that date, as is shown by the church records of Newington. 
According to tradition the first service in New Britain was 
conducted by the Rev. William Burnham of Kensington, at 
the house of Elijah Smith, on East Street, not far from where 
the Stanley Memorial Chapel now stands. The Rev. Mr. 
Burnham died September 23, 1750, and this is our only clue to 
the date of that first meeting. 

The three societies of New Britain, Kensington and Worth- 
ington were set off from the town of Farmington in 1785 and 
incorporated as the town of Berlin. The New Britain Society 
was set off from the town of Berlin and incorporated as a town 
by itself in 1850. The only boundary given in the act of incor- 
poration, is "all that part of the town of Berlin which is now 
included within the limits of the Society of New Britain," and 
thus our town boundary dates back to 1754. Immediately 
after the incorporation of the town, E. M. Woodford, C. E., 
made a survey of the town for a map, giving all the roads and 




Jamks Shki'aki). M. a. 



123 

landowners, which map was published by Richard Clark of 
Philadelphia in 1851. This is the oldest map of New Britain 
that we have been able to find. Prof. Camp's History of New 
Britain tells us what roads were in existence about 1750 to 
1758. The roads on the accompanying map arc mainly the 
roads mentioned by Prof. Camp as they appear on the map 
of 1851. The exceptions are the road beginning at what is 
now the west end of Park Street and terminating at the east 
end of Whiting Street, and the road from the old Black Rock 
school-house to what is now the corner of Lincoln and Hart 
Streets. The other roads no doubt have been slightly changed 
but in general they were so nearly like the present roads as to 
give a good idea of what the town was in 1758. We have 
endeavored to omit from our map all roads on the map of 1851 
which have been built since 1758. For the location of the 
houses and names of the owners we are indebted to Prof. 
Camp's history of the town and Deacon Alfred Andrews' 
history of the church. We have been able to add only one 
item to what they give and that is the particular location in 
Hart Quarter of the residence of Capt. John Langdon. In 
some cases we have had to compare the location of the owner 
of 1758 with that of his children and grandchildren, and after 
locating them where Andrews or Camp say that so-and-so 
lived in 1867 or 1889, when their histories were published, we 
identified such locations by reference to New Britain maps of 
corresponding dates. 

The society of New Britain was made up from parts of 
three different societies, Farmington, Kensington and Newing- 
ton. We have drawn on our map a broken line running east 
and west just north of the house of Benjamin Judd on East 
Street, to indicate the northern boundary of the old Kensington, 
or Great Swamp Society. All persons in Now Britain living 
south of this line belonged to the Kensington Society, and 
their meeting-house stood about a half a mile southeast of the 
present Berlin depot. Most of the people in the northern part 
of present New Britain attended church in Farmington. while 
the few near Luther's Mills and the north end of East Street 
attended at Ncwington. Even after the New Britain Society 
was formed, three famiUcs at the extreme north end of Stanley 
Quarter were permitted to attend service and pay minister's 
rates at Farmington. We have definitely located forty-one 



124 

houses besides the meeting-house, as standing in New Britain 
about 1758, while there were seven other houses that 
cannot be located exactly, although we know on what streets 
they were. This number of houses represents a population 
of two hundred and fifty to three hundred persons. All 
of the families from these forty-eight houses, (excepting the 
three northern-most houses, in Stanley Quarter,) no doubt 
attended church in the old meeting-house on Smalley Park. 
There was not only no other religious organization in the par- 
ish, but practically all of the people were of one denomination 
and belonged to the one church. In fact there were only 
three house owners in New Britain in 1758, that we cannot 
positively identify with the First Church of Christ, either 
through the husband or the wife, while as a general rule both 
parents belonged to the church. When Dr. Smalley was first 
settled here no doubt all of the people in New Britain without 
an exception were his parishioners and naturally he always 
so considered all the inhabitants. According to Deacon An- 
drews, it was not until about 1770, that any other than Con- 
gregationalists resided here, for "in 1772 there were but three 
Churchmen, and perhaps not a greater number of Baptists." 
It is also a notable thing that the greater part of all the roads 
had their southern outlet in the southeast part of the parish 
through Christian Lane, where the first meeting-house in 
Kensington was located, there being only one other southern 
outlet, viz: through what is now known as Lincoln Street Ex- 
tension. We know of only three of the house owners of 1758 
who are still represented on the same land, by their descendants 
of the same surname through an unbroken succession. Rollin 
D. Judd is living on the land of his ancestor John Judd, Mason 
P. Andrews on the land of his ancestor Moses Andrews, and 
Cornelius Andrews on the land of his ancestor Hezekiah Andrews 
although his house is on the other side of the street. All three 
of these are on West Main Street. Of the houses standing in 
1758 only two are known to be now standing on the same land. 
The old house on the east side of Main Street nearly opposite 
St. Mary's Church, was formerly the residence of Col. Isaac 
Lee and is supposed to have been built soon after his marriage 
in 1740. The old house on the left hand side of the trolley to 
Plainville just after we turn the corner westerly by the old 
Black Rock school-house is the Judah Hart house and is sup- 



125 

posed to have been built soon after his marriage in 1735. It 
stands near the power house of the Connecticut Company, 
where it has stood for about one hundred and seventy years or 
more, and thus the oldest house in New Britain joins hands 
with our modern improvements, the trolley and electric light. 
And to our fathers of one hundred and fifty years ago and to 
the One Father of us all, we render thanks for what we now are 
and for the light that we now have. 




r1< 



o 



or 

CO 
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LBAp'12 



17 5 8 19 8 

First Church of Christ 

NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT 






APRIL 25. 26 AND 27, 1908 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 111 999 



